


After the New Dawn

by MiniMe1776



Series: Beyond the New Dawn [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Supergirl (TV 2015), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Barry and Caitlin made a bad choice, End of the World, F/M, Fluff, Good Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter is Barry Allen but also sort of not, Hermione Granger is Caitlin Snow but also sort of not, Kara Zor-El is completely Kara Danvers (Crazy - Right?), Light-Hearted, Post-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Post-The Flash (TV 2014) Season 3, Pre-Iron Man 1, Ron Weasley is a Good Friend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 50,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25334161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniMe1776/pseuds/MiniMe1776
Summary: A terrible mistake sends the multiverse spiraling down a new path, one riddled with even more danger and mystery than the previous. However, not is all as it seems. A desperate and morally-questionable act of two grief-stricken meta-humans only manages to complicate things further. In a new world and a new timeline, Harry and Hermione work to adjust to their new circumstances, combating foes new and old. DC/MCU/HP crossover. Post-PoA. (Also on fanfiction.net)
Relationships: Barry Allen & Caitlin Snow, Barry Allen/Caitlin Snow, Harry Potter & Kara Danvers, Hermione Granger & Harry Potter & Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger & Kara Danvers, Hermione Granger/Harry Potter, James "Bucky" Barnes/Kara Danvers, Kara Danvers & Clark Kent, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Ron Weasley/Sophie Roper
Series: Beyond the New Dawn [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1848559
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	1. A New Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> First and foremost, I don't own any of this content, it belongs to a variety of other people and companies, including J. K. Rowling, Disney, and more.
> 
> Additional note (7/22/20): I'm rather disturbed with myself right now, having now realized that the whole premise of this story is rather screwed up and that I didn't realize until a very nice reviewer (on fanfiction.net) pointed it out to me, so I'll be brief. I've changed my plan for the plot drastically, and eventually, Barry and Caitlin won't be portrayed in the best of lights, though there'll be a reason provided (it sounded valid to me, I'm not sure how valid it'll seem to you). I wasn't originally planning on this, so I'm putting the warning here: Watch out for eventual Barry and Caitlin bashing. I won't put much focus on it, simply because I actually love the characters, but if I want to continue this story without it seeming totally fucked-up, I'm going to have to. Just know, Barry and Caitlin are extremely OOC in this, something I've blamed on their grief. Of course, it might seem like this means I'm bashing Kara too, but I'm not. She's too damn nice and too important to the plot for me to bash. Instead, I'll play the ignorant card, making her a sort-of victim who didn't know the true implications of what she, Barry, and Caitlin were doing.
> 
> This is a four-fandom crossover (as of now) between Supergirl (TV), Flash (TV), the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Harry Potter.
> 
> There are quite a few changes to the Flash timeline, so keep an eye out for those (they'll all be mentioned during the story).
> 
> The Harry Potter timeline has been moved up 14 years! For example, Voldemort attacked Godric's Hollow in 1995 instead of 1981, and Harry started Hogwarts in 2005 instead of 1991.
> 
> This story starts after a modified season 3 of Flash, after Prisoner of Azkaban for Harry Potter, and pre-Iron Man for the MCU (Meaning that it will take place in 2008).
> 
> The main pairing is Harry/Hermione, and Harry and Hermione will mainly be referred to as Barry and Caitlin for the beginning of the story (the first seven chapters or so), and then they'll be mostly back to Harry and Hermione.
> 
> The story starts out very Harry Potter and Flash-heavy. Also, the MCU isn't all that involved right away, considering that the story begins before the first Iron Man. Also know the Supergirl timeline will be very rarely referenced (Kara and Kal are the only ones who make an appearance. A few other characters are mentioned every once-and-awhile, but won't show up).

**Chapter 1 - A New Dawn**

**Graveyard, Central City, Earth-1**

**August 11th, 2017**

Everything was frozen, but it was clear that it was a stormy night. A flash of lightning stood still in the sky, halfway to the ground. Raindrops hung in the air.

Then suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, stillness was no more, and the world resumed.

It was a stormy night. Lightning flashed across the sky, occasionally crashing down onto the world below. Rain splashed the ground, creating small ripples in the puddles that formed.

A man stood, completely drenched, staring at the tombstone in front of him, his arm around the woman standing next to him. Tears streamed down their cheeks.

The woman had a rather abnormal hair color, it was white. That in itself wasn't the strangest part (many older people have white hair), but she was only in her twenties, and the hair color was completely natural. She had her arm around the shoulder of the man and was leaning her head against his other shoulder, the one not occupied by her arm.

As they continued staring blankly at the stone in front of them, the woman sniffled.

"Cisco didn't deserve this," the man whispered. The woman only sighed in response and tore her eyes away from the stone, which read:

_FRANCISCO BARACUS RAMON_

_FRIEND, SON, BROTHER, HERO_

"None of them did," she said, finally.

"I couldn't save him, Caitlin," he said, a bit louder. "He deserved a long, happy life, A LIFE THAT WAS TAKEN FROM HIM!" His voice rose as he continued speaking. "HE DIDN'T DESERVE TH-thi-this." His voice cracked and he stuttered to the end of his sentence. "None of them deserved this."

"Neither of us could save him or them, Barry!" Caitlin said, perhaps a bit too harshly. "This _isn't_ **your** fault. This isn't my fault! This was _Thawne's_ fault."

"I know, Cait," he replied quietly. "I'm sorry, it's just… We could've done more. We should've talked him out of toying with that stuff. He didn't have to be there. And then afterward, I should've kept them all safe, rather than chasing after Thawne."

And it was true. When Cisco died, he didn't need to be there. STAR Labs was being renovated, and Cisco, ever enthusiastic, had decided that the best way to stave off his boredom was to go to the lab and try and help. When he was fiddling with some of the prototype tech the impostor Wells left behind, the tech, interacting with Cisco's own meta-human abilities, accidentally opened a breach, but not one in the dimensional barrier, but one in the time barrier. Out came a younger Thawne, who promptly shoved a vibrating hand through Cisco's chest.

When Cisco hadn't come to dinner that night, Barry went to STAR Labs, thinking that Cisco had just lost track of time. Instead, he found his friend, no, _his brother_ , lying dead on the ground, Thawne sitting in a nearby chair and browsing the internet, exploring his new time period.

In the ensuing fight, Thawne escaped and went after Barry's friends and family.

First was Joe, next was Iris, last was Wally, who wasn't quite fast enough to escape. When Thawne tried to attack Caitlin, however, he was surprised by her ice powers.

It took them a month to catch him. In that time, he went to Star City and slaughtered Team Arrow.

Once they finally got him trapped, they didn't hold back.

Twenty minutes later, a broken and bloody Thawne was dragged into Barry's apartment where kind, patient, understanding Caitlin Snow stabbed Thawne repeatedly with an icicle until he was completely unrecognizable, and most certainly dead.

Two weeks later, just after the final funeral, he felt it.

_A flash of lightning indicated his arrival._

" _CAITLIN!" Barry screamed. "We're screwed, we're fucked, we'll never have existed in the first place!"_

_Her head shot up. "What?"_

" _I can feel it, in the Speed Force! Time has been messed with too many times!"_

" _What does that mean?"_

_Barry lowered his eyes to the ground._

" _The multiverse is being rewritten as we speak," he said._

_Everything came crashing down. Hopes and dreams burned while feelings buried deep down surfaced in the face of erasure from existence._

" _How long do we have?" she asked desperately, rushing forward and grabbing his hands._

" _At most, a month," he said grimly._

_Caitlin sighed. "I guess we'll have to make the most of it, then. We've lost so much time already."_

" _Wha-" Barry's query was silenced by her mouth on his._

_After pulling away, she gave him a dazzling smile. "Let's make the most of the time we have left."_

And they did. They didn't leave the apartment for three days, not leaving until Barry had an epiphany.

" _Caitlin!" Barry yelled from the kitchen, waking her up._

_She stumbled into the kitchen, looking mightily displeased. "What, Barry?" she grumbled._

" _I know how to prolong our existence!" he said._

_**That** _ _woke her up. "How!" she demanded._

" _I give you some of my Speed Force," he said._

_She looked flabbergasted. "How?"_

_He simply shook his head before zooming around the apartment, dressing her in casual clothing in the blink of an eye. Barry and Caitlin appeared in the cortex of STAR Labs almost instantly afterward. Barry put her down and, in his excitement, ran so fast that he became imperceptible to the human eye. Things seemingly moved of their own accord, and then Caitlin somehow found herself strapped to a bed and felt the stab of a needle in her arm._

_The last thing she was aware of before greeting unconsciousness was the world slowing down around her._

They enjoyed a full three years of flash-time. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. They had two weeks of flash-time left, and there was nothing they could do to prolong their existence or the existence of the current multiverse.

But then, Caitlin had an idea. If they couldn't protect this multiverse, they'd protect the next one. She got it from a Sci-Fi magazine she nicked from a coffee shop. If they imbued objects of importance with their memories, they would live on in the first person to utilize the object. They would merge with the person.

After a week and a half of trying, they finally succeeded. Barry put his memories and most of his Speed Force in his flash ring, which also contained his suit. An hour later, Caitlin put her speed, cold, and memories in her snowflake necklace. She managed to stuff her suit in there as well.

The whole concept was that the items that Barry and Caitlin used would re-write the DNA of the user to make them a speedster, or in Caitlin's case, both a speedster and ice meta-human. They were also designed to alter the hippocampus to contain their memories.

Quickly, they traveled to Earth-38, intent on informing Kara of her fate, but she insisted on being taken to the new multiverse as well. She had them design a bracelet that had a small stone with the symbol of the House of El on it. That was imbued with her memories and was also programmed to mutate the person into a Kryptonian.

Kara sent them back to Earth-1, but stayed behind, wanting to spend the rest of her time with her family.

And now, they stood together in a graveyard, awaiting the end. The process was simple. When the purge was upon them, Barry and Caitlin would use the last of their speed to conserve their objects, their legacies. They would throw them into the Negative Speed Force. They would have gone themselves, but the negative speed energy would have corrupted them. Should they even make it through alive, they would be twisted and dark. This method allowed them to live the way they wanted in their new world.

Caitlin lifted her head from Barry's shoulder. "It's time."

He nodded resignedly. "I love you."

She smiled bitterly. "I love you too."

They separated sadly, knowing that they would never embrace again, at least not in this life.

They turned to see a box behind them, the box that contained their essences.

As a pulse of Speed Force energy swept the Earth clean, Barry and Caitlin ran.

They ran faster than ever before, and they could feel the last of their speed leaving them. The Negative Speed Force reached out, absorbing their speed and replacing it with something tainted, born of malice.

Their eyes turned red, and they twisted, becoming dark, evil. A deep red breach opened, and they tossed in the box just as the pulse enveloped them.

Though they themselves were tainted, their memories and powers were pure and preserved through the items in the box.

As they were erased from existence, the terrible creatures that used to be Caitlin Snow and Barry Allen screamed, cried, and ran, but were ultimately vanquished.

* * *

_**The Void** _

**Dawn of the Universe**

The dawn of a new universe is a beautiful thing, it's a shame no one was there to see it.

Suddenly, with a flash of indescribable color, a new variable was added to the equation.

A small, drifting box with a rusted latch disappeared in a swirl of red light, traveling through a passage that transcended time and space.

Fate celebrated its victory.

Time groaned, an expression of its annoyance.

Death did a little dance, looking forward to meeting its masters.

As the universe formed around them, just a little _something_ was added to each and every atom.

The newest facet of the universe, not yet named, watched, filled with pride in its creation, as the impossible became within reach.

* * *

**Little Whinging, Surrey, After the New Dawn**

**August 11th, 2008**

Harry Potter was in a bad mood.

The swing creaked as he went up and down.

Creak.

 _I wonder how Hermione's doing_.

Creak.

_I wish someone would write to me. I haven't gotten much of anything in the way of mail, recently._

Creak.

 _I hope that Sirius is safe_.

Creak.

He hopped off mid-swing, landing nimbly on his feet, but with a splash.

 _Dammit. Stupid puddle_. His shoes were soaked through.

Plop.

A raindrop hit another, smaller puddle behind him. The skies darkened rapidly.

_...That's not normal._

A rumble of thunder echoed above, and a lightning bolt struck a mile away. Harry shivered as the temperature lowered. It started to rain.

A loud screech filled the air as the sky _ripped_ _open_ and a red void formed.

 _No,_ _ **definitely**_ _not normal_.

From the void, a small box flew and landed on the grass a few feet away, digging into the ground slightly.

The void swirled closed, and Harry took a few cautious steps towards the box. He brushed some wet hair out of his face as the wind moved it into a bothersome position.

He touched the rusted latch on the wooden box, and it sprang open of its own accord. Inside, Harry found a strange golden ring adorned with a lightning bolt and a snowflake necklace with a silver chain. Just to the right, there was a bracelet with an 'S' on it.

Curious, Harry went for the ring first. It was impossibly heavy. He carefully slipped it onto his finger, surprised that it fit almost perfectly.

When the cool metal came into contact with his knuckles, Harry felt a powerful jolt of electricity and a prick of his finger. The ring then somehow lost its weight. Not a second later, he saw an orange light travel up his arm under his skin until it sunk into his neck.

There was pain, excruciating pain.

He'd never felt anything so intense.

His last thought before he passed out was that he hoped Dudley and his gang didn't stumble upon him.

* * *

**Riddle Manor, Little Hangleton**

**August 11th, 2008**

Far from the swing set and collapsed teenaged wizard, a wretched, baby-sized, evil creature screamed and collapsed, painfully aware of one of its Horcruxes being ruthlessly annihilated.

"WORMTAIL!" it yelled.

* * *

**Little Whinging, Surrey**

**August 11th, 2008**

Barry regained consciousness with a pitiful groan.

His eyes snapped open and crackled with lightning while sparks ran down his arm. Time slowed to a crawl and Barry stood painfully, noting that he was most certainly shorter than he remembered.

But something was wrong, very wrong.

He could sense something inside him that _wasn't_ the Speed Force. There was a tear, almost. Sort of like a link. He gasped as he examined it, realizing it was a connection to not another dimension, but the world around him. Mentally poking whatever it was, he was rewarded by an explosion of energy that seemed foreign, yet familiar at the same time, almost as if it was completely natural, yet he was woefully unused to it.

The result of this energy, however, was completely unexpected. All of the grass in a twenty-foot radius around him turned to steel, and his and Caitlin's box floated…

Wait.

His and Caitlin's box? Damn. And, he was wearing the ring too.

Great.

 _Just_ great.

The multiverse had been rewritten.

He needed to find someone to give Caitlin's necklace so that she could be reborn as well. He'd think about Kara's bracelet later.

Suddenly, a variety of memories, not his own, flooded his mind.

Memories of Harry Potter.

Wow, his life was really sad. No wonder he was so depressed and emotionally retarded.

As he examined them, Barry quickly realized that the exposure to Harry's memories was changing him, combining his personality with Harry's, making something new altogether.

Suddenly, the part of his mind that was once Harry made its opinion known.

_Hey! Let's give Hermione the necklace! She's really hot!_

Barry grimaced. Yes, she was attractive, but that was a rather crude thought, especially towards one who was their best friend. He couldn't deny that it was the truth, however, even if it made him feel guilty.

But… she did have the most similar personality to Caitlin out of everyone that he knew so far in this universe, so it made sense to make Hermione a witch-speedster hybrid, who happened to be Harry's, and by extension Barry's, best friend. Oh, and Hermione wouldn't be _just_ Hermione anymore, but both Caitlin and Hermione. A mix. But from what Barry could tell, Hermione would definitely benefit from the change, ignoring the obvious addition of Speed Force. Caitlin was still very studious but was better at loosening up than Hermione. Also, Caitlin was a bit less vindictive. Hermione was, without a doubt, the scariest witch he'd ever met.

Wait.

Witch?

Barry scanned Harry's memories again,

Holy fuck!

Honest-to-god magic!

This new universe was trippier than the old one, and that was a fairly bold statement. What were indestructible aliens in comparison to fucking horse-eagles - oops, sorry - hippogriffs?

Barry shook his head, banishing that train of thought, and closed up his box. He looked down at his feet to see the worn shoes and realized that if he ran, he'd destroy them within a day. He'd have to use them sparingly.

Shoes in one hand, box in the other, Barry allowed time to speed up and walked around the park, taking a look at the environment and mentally noting any major differences between this universe and his own. As he looked, the only thing he could see that was different, is that everything seemed to have _some_ form of magic, even inanimate objects.

That didn't make sense.

It couldn't all be magic. It had to be some other source of energy that 'wizards and witches' could manipulate.

Committing that thought to memory and promising himself to dig a bit deeper later, he continued his examination.

The difference between the metallic grass and the normal grass was astounding. Barry could see an abundance of the strange energy in the steel grass, but only a very small quantity of it in the green grass.

That discovery, however, paled to the stick in his back pocket. Briefly placing his box down, Barry took out the stick and examined it.

It was practically _made_ of the energy.

He searched Harry's memories specifically for it and found the answer: wands. That made sense. It was clear that most 'wizards' required some kind of focus in order to use the energy safely.

Unfortunately, this wand didn't feel particularly compatible with him. He absently wondered how Harry had used the damn thing for three years. Taking a closer look, it looked like it was grasping for a connection with something that wasn't there anymore. He could see tendrils of the energy leaking out of the sides and reaching for his forehead, but were unable to grasp what they were looking for. Running a finger over the spot on his forehead, Barry was slightly startled to note that there was a lightning-bolt-shaped scar there. It was fading quickly, though.

Taking a moment to reflect on that, he chuckled quietly at the irony.

It was then that Barry noticed the glasses. "Ew," he muttered after pulling them off, seeing the sorry state that they were in, "These did absolutely nothing good for my eyes. I can't believe it took me this long to notice I was wearing them."

Looking around, Barry was happy to note that he could see just fine without the glasses. Benefits of being a speedster; while he wasn't in peak physical condition yet, the most glaring problems had been fixed. The rest was likely to change overnight.

He reached inside and touched the source of the energy again, testing a hunch. He was pleasantly surprised when the glasses slowly shifted into a large plastic grocery bag. Smiling proudly, he dropped the shoes inside and picked up his box.

Taking note of his surroundings once more, time slowed and he began to make his way to number four Privet Drive.

On his way, he noticed a boot that looked like it had a foot in it, but there was no leg sticking out.

 _Strange,_ he thought and waved a hand where the leg should be. He was rather surprised when it turned out that there actually _was_ a person, just a _very_ unconscious one, and one under an invisibility cloak, which he promptly pulled off.

He wrinkled his nose when a pungent smell of alcohol almost immediately reached his nose.

He mentally growled, drawing upon Harry's memories. He recognized this man. He was one of those petty thieves that sold stolen goods down in Knockturn.

 _What the hell is a petty_ _ **wizarding**_ _thief doing outside of my house?_

Scowling, Barry fixed the cloak so that the man was fully covered, aware that if someone else had found the man, the alcoholic would've likely been charged for violating the statue of secrecy.

He sped the rest of the way back to the house and shot into his 'room,' if anyone could seriously call it that.

If anyone had been looking in the room, they would have seen a storm of lightning flash from corner to corner, packing away all of Harry's belongings.

Once the room was bare apart from the furniture, Barry nodded in approval and sped out of the house, trunk in one hand, box in the other.

A streak of lightning shot through the streets of Little Whinging until stopping at the town library. Quietly entering, Barry made his way to a public computer. He set down his trunk and box, and then sat, cracking his knuckles.

His fingers were a blur on the keyboard as he searched the web for Hermione's home address, mentally bemoaning that Harry hadn't even thought to ask where she lived in the past.

Bloody idiot.

Oh, hell. Just half an hour as a Brit and he was already picking up the slang.

After quite a bit of searching, he concluded that she lived in Crawley. He couldn't find her exact address but figured he could search the town fast enough.

As he shut down the computer and cleared his history, he got an idea.

Once out of the library, he reached _inside_ again and shrunk his box and trunk. They both fit in his pocket. _Cool,_ he thought.

Suddenly, a memory jumped to the front of his mind.

 _Shit!_ he thought, _I'm not allowed to do 'magic' out of school!_

Looking around, he quickly realized that he had done 'magic' nearly half an hour before, and still hadn't seen any owls. Maybe they could only track the foci… Yeah, that makes sense. Everyone bought from Ollivander's, so it would be pretty easy to get all the wands outfitted with the trace.

But that meant… The Ministry couldn't really detect general energy usage, only the foci! That meant that Barry could use the energy whenever he wanted, as long as he avoided using his 'wand'!

As Barry pushed aside the stray thoughts, the world slowed down once more, and unimpeded by a trunk, he sprinted down the street, running past cars and dodging pedestrians.

Running was the best feeling in the world. It was total freedom.

Very quickly, Barry entered Crawley, darting past the frozen cars and avoiding pedestrians who were frozen mid-stride.

Flashing from house to house, it took him a little while to locate Hermione's.

As he took a long look at the house, he decided that it was almost unnaturally clean-looking. The walls were white, and without a hint of dirt. That didn't make much sense. The windows were the most transparent glass he'd ever seen. The yard was immaculate, with no sign of _any_ weeds or nuisances whatsoever.

_This feels off._

Barry straightened his posture, flashed into his shoes that he quickly dug out of his trunk, and time sped up again.

He calmly walked up to the door and rang the doorbell.

After just about thirty seconds, Barry heard some shuffling, and finally, the doorknob twisted and the door was pulled open by a middle-aged brown-haired woman.

"Hello," she said kindly, "what can I help you with?"

Barry smiled. She seemed perfectly pleasant. "Hello to you as well. My name is Harry Potter, a friend of Hermione's. I just took the bus over, and I was wondering if she wanted to hang out, or something? She hasn't written in a while, and I miss her. I would've gone to my other friend as well, but he lives much farther away."

Mrs. Granger stiffened at the name Harry Potter, but quickly schooled her features back into a friendly smile, but not before Barry noticed.

Internally, he was a bit confused at the reaction, but outwardly, he was still smiling.

Frowning slightly, Mrs. Granger backed up a bit. "I'll be right back. Just wait there for a minute."

After the door closed, Barry sighed, moved back a little, and slowed time until everything seemed frozen. He phased through the door and walked down the hall. Mrs. Granger looked to be in a _very_ spirited argument with Mr. Granger next to a staircase. Barry phased into a nearby closet to remain unnoticed. Time sped up again.

"-telling you, Robert, they're all bad news! Didn't you hear what Hermione said? Just last year, that mass murderer escaped! But now, Hermione is defending him, saying he's innocent! And don't even get me started on the whole "magic" business! Complete blasphemy! We are faithful Christians, it must be some sort of advanced technology, and now they've converted Hermione…" as Mrs. Granger continued her rant, Barry tuned her out and phased out of the closet, moving beyond the perception of the human eye. Looking up, he noticed Hermione sitting at the top of the stairs, eyes full of tears. Barry frowned. This was very bad. Hermione was a 'witch,' and her parents were religious. This was _very_ bad. Granted, they were sort-of right, seeing as magic probably wasn't actually _magic_ , but this situation could be dangerous for Hermione.

Barry massaged his temples before flashing back outside.

He only had to wait around another minute before Mrs. Granger came back outside with a smile plastered on her face. Barry noticed that it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm sorry, Harry, but she's really focused on her work right now. Wouldn't hear of anything else. I'm sure she's looking forward to seeing you at school, though."

Barry nodded with a carefully constructed facade of a crestfallen expression. On the inside, however, he was seething. His best friend's mother was deliberately trying to ruin their friendship. No matter how much he wanted to rant and rave, though, he refrained. "Okay, Mrs. Granger. I'll be going now, then."

With a relieved smile, she shut the door, and his mask fell. A scowl marred his features and he clenched his fists.

Once more, time slowed to a crawl. Barry phased inside and flashed up the stairs, picking up a crying Hermione and phasing her into a bathroom."

He sat put the lid down and sat her comfortably on the toilet seat, and time returned to normal.

Hermione squeaked.

"Harry! How did you get in here? Actually, how did I get in here?" she whispered fiercely.

Barry stepped forward and put a finger to her lips, muting her ramblings.

"Hermione, I'm not Harry Potter, yet I am. My real name is Barry Allen."

She was silent for a moment, before breaking down into hysterical giggles. "S-sorry, Harry, but really, _Flash?_ Couldn't you do better than a comic book character?"

Barry was stunned. _Comic book?_

"Oh, I know," he realized.

She looked at him quizzically. "What?"

"Look at my hand," he said simply.

He brought his hand up and began to vibrate it, then phased it through the nearest wall.

She gaped for a moment. "You… really are the Flash?"

He smiled. "Yes, but I prefer Barry."

"Alright… Barry," she said, testing the name. "Where's Harry then?"

Barry tapped the side of his head. "In here. I'm Harry Potter _and_ Barry Allen."

Hermione looked confused. "How does that work?"

Barry showed her his ring. "This had my essence in it. When Harry put it on, I merged with him."

Her mouth took on an "O" shape. Barry fished the box out of his pocket and resized it.

She looked at it. "What's that?"

"The box that held the ring, and still holds the necklace. I mean, there's also a bracelet, but that's for someone else."

"Necklace?" she asked.

"My fiancée's necklace," he clarified.

"Who was your fiancée?"

"Caitlin Snow, though probably known to you through whatever comics as Frost."

She looked stunned again. "You were _engaged_ to a supervillain? _Killer Frost?_ "

It was Barry's turn to look stunned. "Villain? Never! Cait was one of the kindest people I've ever known! Only her alter-ego, who we called Killer Frost, was insane, but we eradicated it. She was actually part of team Flash, and I gave her some of my speed."

Hermione still looked stunned, but quickly recovered. "What's the point of this?"

Barry took out the necklace. "If you put this on, you'll become a speedster and you'll have cold powers, which is an interesting combination. But also, you'll merge with Caitlin, and she was an MD and a Bioengineer, which is hopefully another plus. Of course, you don't have to put it on, but you can, and it would make you more powerful then you'd ever imagine. Also, you seemed like the best candidate. You're pretty similar to her, though she's a bit more laid back," he finished with a chuckle.

Hermione looked totally overwhelmed. "So… you want me to become your dead fiancée."

Barry grimaced. "You make that sound much worse than it actually is." He sighed, noting her now impassive expression. "She was erased from existence, actually, not dead, but so was I. Also, another plus might be that Harry has a crush on you, and because he does, so do I apparently."

Hermione gasped, though to which part of the statement, he wasn't sure.

She took a deep breath. "I'll do it," she said, sounding quite determined.

Barry looked suddenly nervous. "Are you sure? There's no going back."

"Yes," she simply said. He held out the necklace in response. She took it gingerly, noting its unnatural weight and running her fingers over the white snowflake before tracing the silver chain. She lifted it over her head.

"Barry," she said awkwardly, clearly not used to the name.

"Yes?"

"I know that Harry's in there somewhere, he just needs to know, before I do this…" she took a deep breath, "...I love him."

Barry felt something deep inside him yell out for joy.

Hermione, without waiting for a response, dropped the necklace, and it fell, landing around her neck, the snowflake landing on the exact center of her chest.

The snowflake glowed blue, and Hermione collapsed. Barry caught her and noticed her hair begin to turn white.

He smiled. "Oh, Cait. How nice it'll be to see you again." He laid her gently down on the floor as white crept from the roots of her hair to the tips. Her tan vanished, and the natural color of her fingernails turned blue. "Always thought that was weird," Barry muttered, referring to her new nail color. Blue sparks ran down her arm and her eyes snapped open, crackling with blue lightning.

" **Barry!"** Caitlin rasped with her slightly modified 'Frost voice' as she scrambled to her feet. " **Where-"**

He cut her off. "It worked."

" **Oh,"** she said, glancing down at the necklace.

As she adjusted to her new body, her tan returned, white hair became brown, and her blue eyes were once more chocolate.

He frowned, looking at her nails. They were still blue. "What? I like it," she said defensively, noticing his expression.

He wordlessly gestured at the door.

Caitlin scoffed. "Like they'd notice. Ever since I got my letter they haven't cared." She cocked her head to the side slightly. "Well, at least Mom hasn't. Dad still cares, he's just been a bit more distant. They even made me do _more_ chores, and I already did almost everything in the house."

She froze.

Letter?

She scanned Hermione's memories.

"Magic!" she whispered in awe. "Honest-to-god magic!"

Barry chuckled. "That was exactly my reaction, almost word-for-word," he said, deciding not to burst her magic-fueled bubble too soon.

Caitlin nibbled her lip, making Barry's heart beat faster. "I don't want to stay here," she said.

Barry frowned. "But… you're a kid-" she glared at him, cutting him off. "Sorry, I mean you look like a kid."

She looked pensive until her face lit up. "Aging potions! I heard that they-"

He cut her off. "Fast metabolism."

She deflated. "Don't know why I didn't think about that," she grumbled.

"Hey, hey," he consoled, "you've only been here for, like, two minutes, don't sweat it. You can get your genius on once you've got a good night's sleep."

She brightened again. "We'll stay at the Leaky!"

Barry dug through Harry's memories. "Perfect, but how do we get your parents to not report you as missing?"

Caitlin grinned. "Some _Killer_ intimidation."

Barry barked out a laugh. "That was _terrible._ "

* * *

**Room of Requirement, Restroom Configuration, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**August 11th, 2008**

Albus Dumbledore frowned. What was the source of that terrible itch?

Wait.

No, it couldn't be, could it?

Shit.

The wards at Privet Drive had fallen.

_Oh, Harry. What have you done?_

* * *

**Kitchen, Granger Household, Crawley**

**August 11th, 2008**

Jean Granger was washing dishes, because that was what she did when she was irritated.

She dried a plate.

It was pretty hard keeping Hermione away from those demons during the summer, especially when one of them, her friend Harry, was so darn cute and innocent-looking.

Scrub.

But, she had to stand firm. No child of hers would be involved with that… _world_.

Dry.

She and Robert had planned to simply not send her at all, only to discover that it was illegal not to send a magical kid to a magical school.

Scrub.

She had to stay there until those bird tests or whatever they were called, owls or something. After her fifth year, though, Hermione would be taken out and sent to a _proper_ school.

Dry.

Three years was bad enough! She wasn't their cute little girl anymore! They must have been brainwashing her up there!

Scrub.

When she got home after each year, all she could talk about was _Harry_. Harry, Harry, Harry.

Stupid Harry.

Dry.

It was all about Harry. She was losing her daughter because that damn boy was brainwashing her! She had to keep them apart!

She stopped suddenly.

She could feel it in her gut. Something bad was about to happen. She warily placed the sponge back on the rack and sat down at the kitchen table, looking around cautiously.

Her head snapped towards the stairs as she heard a crackle of what sounded like electricity and a quiet chuckle.

She heard quiet, slow footsteps descend down the stairs, and her heart thumped in her chest as she saw her - it. She refused to call it a her.

White hair. Cold, blue eyes. A devious smirk. _But Hermione's face._

" **Hello,** _ **mother,**_ " came the cold, metallic voice.

"Hermione?" she called in a trembling voice.

" **No,"** _it_ rasped. " **I am** _ **Frost**_ **."**

In an explosion of blue lightning, the newly minted Frost flashed behind Jean.

" **I'm going to go. And, you won't say** _ **anything**_ **,"** Frost whispered with a grin.

Jean dug up some courage. "And w-why wouldn't I s-say anything…?"

At that precise moment, yellow lightning flashed into the room and circled Frost and Jean repeatedly, when it stopped, a man in a red full-body suit with a lightning bolt emblazoned on his chest appeared. The only holes were for the eyes; bright, green eyes, and a big one for the mouth and nose. On the sides of his head, around where the ears should be, were two lightning bolt symbols, not unlike the one on his chest. Despite the fact that it was all red, there were differences. Some parts of the suit were darker than others, but it was all symmetrical, excluding the lightning bolt emblem. In some places, there were thin, gold lines zigging and zagging. Around the waist, there was a golden lightning bolt belt. Frost smirked.

" **You wouldn't want** _ **two**_ **speedsters mad at you, would you?"** he asked, vibrating his vocal cords to disguise his voice.

That's when it hit her. _Flash._ There was a literal comic book superhero in her house, threatening her. And _Frost_. Frost! Killer Frost!

She was so out of her depth, it wasn't even funny.

Jean shivered. "N-no… just go…" she said weakly.

With identical grins, the two forms disappeared in a storm of blue and yellow lightning, both circling around Jean a few times before the yellow phased through the wall and the blue went up and down the stairs in the blink of an eye before joining its partner outside.

Jean let out a hollow laugh. "Insane," she whispered. "My daughter is an insane supervillain, teaming up with the Flash."

They were right. She wouldn't say anything. After all, who would believe her? Even she was doubting her own sanity.

* * *

_And the sun shines on a new world…_


	2. The Aftermath

**Previously on** _**After the New Dawn** _ **:**

_With identical grins, the two forms disappeared in a storm of blue and yellow lightning, both circling around Jean a few times before the yellow phased through the wall and the blue went up and down the stairs, and then joined its partner outside._

_Jean let out a hollow, mirthless laugh. "Insane," she whispered. "My daughter is an insane supervillain."_

* * *

**Chapter 2 - The Aftermath**

**August 11th, 2008**

Yellow lightning shot down the street, followed closely by a trail of blue lightning.

Barry looked back at Caitlin while they were running. They needed food soon, or they would quickly collapse from a lack of energy. He didn't _feel_ fatigued, per se, but from experience, he knew that they needed some calories, and soon.

"Cait!" he called, "we need to get some food, or we'll probably black out. I've been running all day."

Seeing her nod, he veered off course and after a few minutes, they stopped behind a McDonald's.

He quickly phased out of his suit and put it in his ring, and Caitlin's features returned to their "normal" state.

When they got inside, they each ordered two Big Macs. The cashier looked at them oddly, thinking that there was no way that they'd be able to eat those.

As they sat down, Barry looked at Caitlin apologetically. "I'm sorry, that's all the non-magical currency I had in my trunk. We'll have to visit Gringotts so we can buy the appropriate amount of food."

However, they quickly discovered that they didn't need nearly as much food as they thought. After she finished her first burger, Caitlin looked at Barry with wide eyes.

"I'm feeling… full? This is not normal! We usually need ten thousand calories a day!"

Barry quickly finished his first burger. "I agree, this is really unusual." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Do you think magic has anything to do with it?"

Caitlin gasped. "Our magic must be balancing our speed! Wow, that's incredible!" She sighed happily. "We'll be able to eat normally again."

Barry was a little dubious, but after thinking for a bit, he realized that it would make sense that the other form of energy flowing into their bodies was something that could counteract their _unusual_ metabolism. It was a good enough theory, at least until they could get a proper lab to answer these questions themselves. Giving her a small smile, he packed away the remaining burgers into a newly-transfigured box.

As they walked out of the establishment hand-in-hand, Caitlin addressed a major problem. "You know that Dumbledore is going to be looking for you. You left Privet Drive, against his orders, and now he has no clue to your location. Also, what are we going to do about the Weasleys? We've been invited to the Quidditch World Cup with them, you know."

Barry sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his unoccupied hand. "They're going to notice something's different really quick. We're definitely different from the Harry and Hermione they knew." He paused for a moment. "Well… at least Ron will notice, we don't know all the others all that well, though maybe the twins will notice too. I know Mrs. Weasley fancies herself my surrogate mother after the past two summers, but I don't think she really knows me all that well."

Caitlin gave Barry a long look. "So… we tell Ron?"

Barry nodded. "That makes sense. He'd be able to cover for us… I think."

Caitlin made a vague gesture of acknowledgment. "Okay. Other things we need to think about… Um… Oh! We should get some books. With you being muggle-raised and me being muggle-born, not to mention how the majority of our memories consist of a world completely without magic, we need some information. With our speed, we should be able to read those books super fast."

Barry gave her an impressed look. "Great idea!"

Caitlin smiled. "Yes. Also, I need a ring for the suit in my necklace. I have no idea why I decided to use my necklace rather than a ring like yours." She looked at him appraisingly. "How did you even find that ring? I don't think you ever told me."

Barry shrugged. "When I was fighting Savitar this one time, he tossed me pretty far into the future. It wasn't the time that I saw Iris die, I went further this time. If I remember correctly, I ended up somewhere around 2049. The ring was in a museum that featured the Flash. It was on one of the shelves. I read the description that the museum provided and decided that it was too useful-looking to _not_ take. I mean, it _was_ mine at one point. I discarded the suit inside, though. It didn't quite fit me. I must've had that suit when I was a bit older. When I got back, I studied it quite a bit, trying to figure out how it worked. I pretty much have the whole structure of the thing memorized. I think I can make one for you. The only problem might be that some of the parts don't exist yet in this time period. For some reason, the year is 2008, which is quite a bit behind where we came from, especially considering our technological advances thanks to the meta-humans."

She rolled her eyes. "Hey, I'm pretty sure that you were very up to date on tech over there, you big dork. I'd bet that you understand most, if not all, of the advances that took place over the past few years."

Barry laughed. "I don't know what I was thinking. I'll just make the individual parts myself. You're definitely right. I'm no engineer, but I like knowing how the equipment I use works." He perked up suddenly, looking very excited.

"What?" Caitlin asked, chuckling.

"Am I that obvious?" When she opened her mouth, he backtracked quickly. "Never mind, don't answer that. I'm sure I won't like the answer," he joked. "Anyway, I just realized how many possibilities have been opened to us! We're living in a world of magic! Think of all the things we can do! When I first woke, I accidentally turned all the grass within a certain distance from me to steel!"

Caitlin giggled. "Oh my god! You had an accident! Magical kids usually stop getting those a while ago!"

Barry turned beet red. That sounded pretty embarrassing. "It-it wasn't really an _accident_ , per se," he stammered. At her disbelieving expression, he hastened to explain. "It's like I reached inside, searching for that weird thing that felt totally alien, but natural at the same time. You know what I'm talking about, right?" When she nodded, he continued. "I sort of… prodded it, I guess, and this wave of _something_ erupted from me. The best way to describe it is… power. I felt powerful, and suddenly, all the grass around me was steel, and our box floated."

She gaped. "Wandless magic? That's supposed to be impossible except for the strongest wizards, like Dumbledore and Voldemort. And even they can only do vague, uncontrolled, basic things. If you can harness this, we'd be unstoppable!"

Barry said, "Have you felt your focus recently? Mine feels off, almost like it's grasping for something that isn't there."

Caitlin frowned. "Focus?"

Barry sighed, realizing it was probably time to pop the bubble. "I guess you could call it a wand, but really it's just a focus for your magic. I refuse to call it something so silly and fantastical. Even with magic, my running theory is that 'wizards and witches' simply have something in their genetic makeup which gives them the ability to tap into some other extradimensional power source, sort of like the Speed Force. That would explain the passage of 'magic' from parent to child. Using the term 'magic' feels wrong, seeing as 'magic' means something occurring via supernatural means. That usually implies something inexplicable. I'm sure that if we researched enough, we could find out everything there is to know. For lack of a better term, though, I'll agree to call it magic, _for now_."

Caitlin looked absolutely stunned. "What about muggle-borns?" she asked skeptically.

Barry rolled his eyes. "Come on, Dr. Snow! You're the MD and Bioengineer here! If I can figure it out, surely _you_ can!"

Her mouth dropped open and she smacked her forehead, the pieces having fallen into place. "Oh, I'm an idiot." Barry chuckled in response. "Recessive genes!" she said.

"Yes!" he exclaimed, "You probably have squib ancestors on both sides, and eventually, their descendants, who still had magical genes, had a kid and got lucky."

But all too quickly, the euphoria that came with a new discovery faded, and Caitlin frowned. "So… that means that magic isn't really magic."

"Right," Barry agreed. "I think that it's just a new kind of energy that manifested when the universe was rewritten, but that's just a theory. It's certainly possible that it _is_ magic, but that seems perfectly illogical."

Her posture straightened, suddenly interested in gaining some new knowledge relating to their conversation. "Right. Enough of this, I'm hungry for some books. Let's get moving, Mr. Allen."

Barry chuckled before letting go of her hand and streaking off in a path illuminated by yellow lightning.

She huffed before following his example, only with blue lightning instead.

* * *

**Kitchen, The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole**

**August 11th, 2008**

Molly Weasley was happily bustling around her kitchen, making a big lunch for her happy family. It was a shame that Harry couldn't come earlier this year. He was just too skinny! He needed some fattening up.

Suddenly, the floo burst to life, and out came Professor Dumbledore.

"Oh, Albus!" she said, pleasantly surprised. "It's nice to see you! Can I interest you in some tea?"

"I'm sorry, my dear," he said, "but it seems that Harry has gone missing."

Oh, no! That poor boy! That wouldn't do at all! Not at all!

"We've got to find him!" she said firmly.

* * *

**Charing Cross Road, London**

**August 11th, 2008**

"Here it is!" Barry said happily, skidding to a halt on the sidewalk. Miraculously, the pedestrians seemed not to notice him.

Caitlin appeared a moment later, followed by her signature blue lightning.

"Oh," Barry said, "I thought you were just behind me."

"What?"

"Never mind. Anyway, that's the Leaky, right?" he asked, pointing to a sign that said _The Leaky Cauldron_.

Caitlin gave him a deadpan look. "Haven't you been here before."

Barry shrugged. "Yeah, but only a few times. I hadn't really paid all that much attention to what it looked like from the muggle side."

She rolled her eyes. "The sign should give it away, though."

He shrugged.

She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the entrance, ignoring his protests over being physically guided.

Once he got his balance, he fell into step with her and lightly smacked her on the shoulder, expressing his mild irritation.

She merely smirked in response.

Pushing ahead, he opened the door, and with an exaggerated bow, he indicated for her to go first.

As they approached the counter, Barry called out to the bartender. "Hey, Tom. Can we get a room?"

Tom looked up from a paper he was writing on, and his eyes widened. "Harry! Dumbledore's been lookin' for ya."

Barry grimaced. "Ah. If you wouldn't mind, please don't tell him we were here."

Tom looked troubled, his loyalty to Dumbledore warring with his fondness for Harry Potter. After a moment of hesitation, Tom nodded reluctantly. "Alright. Only for you, Harry. Follow me, I'll take you two to yer room."

As Tom led them up the stairs, Barry exchanged an uneasy glance with Caitlin, concerned that Dumbledore happened to somehow already know that he'd left number four.

Tom led them to a door with the number "3" engraved in the center.

Inside was a small, cozy-looking room with twin beds that had yellow comforters and white sheets and pillows, which all looked quite soft, highly polished oak furniture, namely a small table and two chairs, and a crackling fireplace, which lit the room, providing a comfortable light. The walls were white, the floors wooden, which were also polished.

Tom stepped towards a window, which was covered by drawn brown curtains, and pulled the curtains apart, which lit up the room further. He did this for each window, and the room became brighter and brighter with each.

Tom turned back to the couple. "Whenever you're ready to leave, come talk to me and we'll talk cost."

He left the room with a smile on his face.

Barry walked over to the window, through which, he could see Diagon Alley. All of the shoppers bustled from store to store, purchasing everyday items.

"Wow," Caitlin said. "Never thought that these rooms would be so nice, especially considering the atmosphere downstairs."

"Yeah," Barry agreed.

"Blimey! You're Harry Potter!" came an obnoxious voice. Barry and Caitlin both jumped, facing the noise. What greeted them surprised Caitlin but made Barry chuckle.

The mirror had talked.

"Oh, hello," Barry said pompously, making Caitlin giggle as he sauntered over to the mirror. "How do I look today?"

The mirror made a scratching noise. "Absolutely _dashing_ , mate. Completely marvelous, you'll have the ladies fighting to get a piece of you," the mirror gushed.

Barry exchanged an amused glance with Caitlin. The truth was that he was still wearing Dudley's hand-me-downs and was most certainly _not_ dashing in any way, shape, or form.

"Why thank you, good sir," Barry said with an air of faux-gratefulness.

If a mirror could swoon, it would have. Instead, it had to resort to stuttering out a "Y-y-you're w-welcome!"

Smiling indulgently, Caitlin stepped forward, pushing Barry to the side slightly. "How do I look?" she asked it.

The mirror coughed. "Hair's a bit messy, I reckon I'd fix that up a bit if I were you. Also, that clothing is rubbish for your figure, much too revealing."

Caitlin fumed while Barry broke down into a fit of hysterical laughter. Caitlin's new hair may have been a bit bushy, but her clothing was loose-fitting and even a bit conservative.

"Barry," she complained, "can we put this mirror somewhere else?"

After finally recovering his breath, he said, "Yeah, sure. And anyway, it was in no way correct. Your new hair is a _bit_ messy, but it suits you, I think. Also, your clothing isn't the least bit revealing, so don't worry about anything it said. You're beautiful."

Without waiting for a response, Barry sped forward and took the mirror off the wall, flashed it under the bed, and attempted a silencing spell, which managed to work.

Taking a seat at the small table and taking out his trunk, Barry said, "We'll just have to remember that we left it there."

Caitlin snorted, then ran over to Barry and grabbing his face. Pulling it to face hers, she gave him a very thorough snogging. "That was a very nice thing you said, Mr. Allen," she whispered after pulling away.

He smiled. "Yes, well, it's all true. You're very beautiful and I love you."

His smile dropped and he sighed. "I know that I'm Barry Allen and you're Caitlin Snow, but we're also Harry Potter and Hermione Granger."

She looked at him and waited for him to continue.

"We need to adjust to who we're supposed to be. I can't very well call you Caitlin in front of others, you can't call me Barry either."

Caitlin frowned for a minute, before smiling again. "I've got an idea, what if they were sort of nicknames? We could say we were hanging out over the summer and this drunk dude thought we were friends of his; Barry and Caitlin. We thought it was so funny that we started calling each other it teasingly, but it stuck!"

Barry was stunned. "Wow, that's… actually a pretty good idea. We should still answer to Harry and Hermione, though."

Caitlin waved away his concern. "Of course. We should react to it naturally, considering that part of me is Hermione, and part of you is Harry."

"Hm. We should test that."

"When will you do that?"

"When you least expect it."

"Of course, I wouldn't expect anything different."

"Damn it."

Caitlin laughed as she set her trunk on the table.

Suddenly, she turned to Barry with a serious look. "How does Dumbledore already know you're gone?"

This stumped Barry. "...No clue… Wait! Do you think he was spying on- Oh shit! The thief! That's why he was there…" He trailed off, the pieces clicking together like a puzzle.

"What?"

"When I was going back to the Dursley's after merging with Harry, I noticed a foot. No leg, just a foot. Naturally, I was curious, so I went over to check it out. It turns out that it was a wizard with an invisibility cloak. I recognized the guy, and he's this rather well-known petty thief that sells his stuff on Knockturn. He must owe Dumbledore a debt or something and was probably spying. The only problem is that he was passed out, drunk. It's rather likely that when he woke up, he noticed that I was gone and went to report to Dumbledore."

Caitlin looked troubled. If Dumbledore wasn't on their side, then they'd have a rather powerful enemy.

Barry continued, oblivious to her concerns. "I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt, however, as he has always looked out for me in the past, and it's likely that he's just doing the same now. It is plausible that he'd want me to stay there to protect me from former supporters of Voldemort."

Suddenly, Caitlin's worries vanished as a thought popped into her head. "Wait just a second, Barry. Let's think about this for a second. Boy's godfather escapes from prison, turns out to be innocent. Boy's godfather isn't allowed to take the boy and instead, he's told to go away and hide. Suddenly, in the middle of the summer, the boy vanishes. It's unlikely that the boy would go away on his own, only being fourteen, so what happened?"

With dawning understanding on his face, Barry continued, "The boy's godfather took him away, and the boy didn't resist, considering that he hates his relatives! Holy crap, Dumbledore must think that Sirius did it! That's why he's so concerned. He must have had someone spying because he wasn't sure if Sirius would leave me there or not!"

She patted his arm comfortingly. "It's already done, Barry. I'm sure that once Dumbledore realizes that you're not with Sirius, he'll look for other explanations. Anyway, let's go get some books. We desperately need to learn more about this world we've been dropped into."

Barry nodded, smiling. As he set his trunk next to Caitlin's, he grabbed her hand. "You get some books for us, I need to get a new focus to use for Hogwarts. Mine doesn't work for me, not since I merged with Harry."

Seeing her nod, he shot over to Gringotts to get some money but frowned when he noticed he didn't have his key. "Shit," he groaned. The Weasleys had it.

Cracking his knuckles, he shot his arm with the ring forward and sped into his suit before running out of the alley.

* * *

**Phantom Zone, Earth-1, Before the New Dawn**

**August 11th, 2017**

Two small pods drifted through an abyss, their inhabitants in stasis.

After the pods had been there for nearly thirty-eight years, a Coluan, inhabiting a similarly drifting alien prison, finally noticed as her prison had drifted close enough, but unfortunately only sensed one of them, the other being just slightly out of reach. Using her powers, she activated the engines of the pod that she noticed, intending to use the pod to drag the prison out of the Phantom Zone, but ultimately failed in her endeavor. Instead of dragging the prison out of the Phantom Zone, the pod latched onto the other pod and took that instead.

Just as the two pods came into contact with the edge of the Phantom Zone, the multiverse was rewritten. However, being in contact with the edge of the Phantom Zone prevented their erasure, and the pods sailed safely into normal space, entering the new universe.

The prison, remaining in the Phantom Zone, was overwritten, just like the rest of the universe.

* * *

**The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, After the New Dawn**

**August 11th, 2008**

Barry looked up at the most unstable building he'd ever seen. It couldn't have been this unstable the last time he saw it, could it? He was sure that if he leaned on the wrong support beam, it would surely topple. Maybe they utilized magic to make it stand.

Actually, that would make a lot of sense.

Barry shook his head, clearing away his train of thought. He vaguely remembered hearing about a summoning spell and decided to try it.

He reached inside and touched the link to magic and made his intent clear. He just hoped that it would work.

He heard a loud clanging as what he assumed was the key flew out of the house and into his hand. He dashed away, hearing a loud cry of protest from Molly Weasley just before the house disappeared from view.

In the blink of an eye, Barry was back in Diagon Alley. He stopped just outside Flourish and Blotts. Looking in the window, he saw Caitlin happily devouring books, picking one up, skimming through, the pages a blur, and on to the next.

Chuckling, he made his way into the store and tapped her on the shoulder. She'd been so engrossed in her book that she didn't notice Barry approaching, and she jumped.

"Barry!" she gasped, clutching her chest, "Don't do that!"  
Barry laughed. "We're going to have to work on your situational awareness, aren't we, Dr. Snow."

"Did you get your wand?" she asked eagerly.

He rolled his eyes. "No, I didn't get my _wand_ yet. I had to get my Gringotts key from the Weasleys. They still had it."

"They didn't see you, did they?" she asked worriedly.

"No, no," Barry soothed, "I tried out that summoning spell. I never even set a foot inside the house. I'm going to head over to Gringotts now. See you in twenty?"

"Sounds good," she said before giving him a peck on the lips. "Run, Barry, run."

Barry laughed and took a few steps back before lightning arced off his body and he flashed away.

In Gringotts, he walked up to a teller and handed him his key. "My vault, please," Barry said politely.

"Name?" the teller asked, sounding bored.

"Ba - er - Harry Potter."

"Really?" the goblin asked dubiously, noticing his momentary slip-up. Giving him an appraising look, he said, "We'll see about that. Come with me."

The goblin took him to another goblin and barked something in gobbledygook. The new goblin shot Barry a suspicious look before leading him to a dark space resembling an office. He dug around in a few desk drawers until he found what he was looking for.

With an almighty "Aha!", the goblin pulled out a metal box with a handprint on the side.

Placing it on the desk, he tapped the top with a gnarled finger and said, "Harry Potter," in a dull tone.

"Put your hand here," he said.

Barry complied, and after a moment, the box flashed purple, and then yellow. The goblin frowned. "Odd," he muttered. "Never seen a combination like that before. You wait here."

He brushed off his suit and rushed out of the office with the box tucked under his arm.

A few minutes later, the goblin returned with another goblin clad in a suit of armor with a rather intimidating sword strapped to his back.

The new goblin poked Barry on the chest.

"Do you exist?" he asked, sounding rather curious.

"What?" Barry sputtered.

"You heard me, do you exist?"

"What is that supposed to mean? I'm sitting right here, aren't I?"

"I don't know, you tell me."

Barry sputtered some more.

After completing his sputtering, Barry scratched the back of his neck. "I mean… I think I do. I'm sitting here talking, I'm pretty sure that means I exist."

"So," said the armored goblin, "to the best of your knowledge, you exist?"

"Yes," Barry replied, looking flustered.

The goblin not wearing armor whipped out the box. "Then how do you explain this?" he asked, shoving it in his face.  
"Explain what?" Barry asked, batting the box away.

"The colors, they mean that either you don't exist or you shouldn't exist. Also, it says you are Harry Potter, but you also aren't Harry Potter. We haven't ever seen anything like that before."

"Oh," said Barry before inwardly berating himself for his reaction.

"Oh?" the goblins asked in tandem, "You know something, don't you, human?"

Beads of sweat formed on Barry's brow. "Well… I…"

"Out with it!" one of them screeched, smacking Barry.

"I'm not exactly from around here," he said lamely.

Their looks of disbelief showed their reactions.

"Yeah, we gathered that already, idiot, where are you from, then?"

"You wouldn't believe me," Barry tried.

"Try us," the armored one said, seeing straight through Barry.

Barry tried a different tactic. "I'm from the previous multiverse."

The goblin sighed, "You're right. I don't believe you."

"What do you want me to say then?" Barry asked hysterically, though he was inwardly happy that his plan worked.

The goblins paused to think. It was obvious that they hadn't thought of that. "How about… Who are you?"

"Barry Allen," Barry said, not expecting them to believe him.

The armored goblin shrugged. "Okay. Is that supposed to mean something?"

"No," Barry lied, feeling rather surprised.

"Liar," one goblin pointed out.  
"Fine," Barry said, before falling silent.

"If you won't talk, you get decapitated, human," the sword-goblin said, drawing his sword.

Barry shrugged.

The blade sliced through the air towards his neck, Barry vibrated, and the sword went straight through him. The goblins looked gobsmacked when his head didn't fall off.

The non-armored goblin recovered first. "Right. Vault time!" he said fearfully, gesturing for Barry to follow him.

The trip to the vault was silent. The goblin refused to look at Barry, while Barry looked at his feet. As the cart screeched to a halt, the goblin gestured to the nearest vault. "That one."

Barry gave the goblin an odd look. "Key?" he prompted.

The goblin blushed and stammered, which looked properly terrifying on a goblin. Barry cringed. He dug through his pockets before pulling out Barry's key. "There you go."

Rolling his eyes, Barry walked up to the vault and inserted the key. Inside was a rather large amount of gold. He conjured a small sack and concentrated on making it bigger on the inside than on the outside.

Opening the sack, he smiled in satisfaction as he noted that it was much larger than one would think. "Pocket dimension," he whispered reverently.

He quickly emptied a large percentage of the vault into his sack. Once he made it lighter, he put the sack in his pocket.

As he left the vault, he noticed that the goblin and the cart had left.

"Nasty bugger," he swore before taking his key and flashing out of the bank.

He dodged shoppers as he made his way to Ollivander's.

As he opened the door, Barry heard a crash from the back of the shop and some loud swearing. Shocked, he stood completely still and watched as a disheveled Mr. Ollivander jogged to his desk from behind the shelves.

Utterly ignoring Barry's presence, he rapidly grabbed a quill and scribbled a few lines on a piece of parchment on his desk.

After a few minutes, Mr. Ollivander still hadn't moved from his position and continued to scribble on his parchment.

Barry coughed, and Mr. Ollivander finally looked up. "Oh! Mr. Potter. What can I do for you?"

"I need a new wand," Barry said. "My last one snapped."

Mr. Ollivander nodded and took out his magical tape measure and tossed it forward. It automatically extended and flew around him quickly and took a variety of measurements. Looking at the results, Mr. Ollivander frowned. "Twelve… How is that possible? I could've sworn it was eleven..." he muttered.

Shaking his head, he moved over to the wall and extracted a wand. "Holly and phoenix feather, twelve inches. Give it a wave."

Taking it, Barry flicked it to the side and watched, enraptured, as a nearby vase imploded.

Mr. Ollivander snatched the wand back, muttering about how that wasn't right.

They tried a variety of other holly wands, all with negative effects, some of which included setting things on fire, exploding others, shooting out lasers, and even what seemed to be an entrail-expelling hex, considering that the innards of the wand case that it hit were sprayed all over the ceiling. _That_ was interesting to watch.

Finally, Mr. Ollivander gave up on holly wands. "Ash and phoenix feather, twelve inches."

The door handle fell off.

"Yew and phoenix feather, twelve inches."

A nearby chair turned into a rabid dog. Mr. Ollivander yelped before vanishing it.

"Hawthorn and phoenix feather, twelve inches."

One square foot of flooring twelve feet away exploded.

"Willow and phoenix feather, twelve inches."

Everything repaired itself, returning to the state that they were in before Barry entered the shop. A new chair was even conjured. The broken wand, however, remained splattered all over the ceiling.

"Wow," Mr. Ollivander breathed, "that was one of the most powerful bondings I've ever seen… But… that shouldn't be your wood… You were born on July 31st…" He shook his head, clearing away the stray thoughts. "Anyway, that wand is very whippy, great for speed casting. You'll be an impressive dueller when you grow up."

Barry nodded, looking a bit dazed. "How much?" he asked.

"Eight galleons," Mr. Ollivander replied.

Handing him the coins, Barry quickly made his way out of the shop. He could feel Mr. Ollivander's eyes boring into his back.

* * *

**Earth-1, Before the New Dawn**

**August 6th, 2017**

The time remnant in the yellow suit bore a startling resemblance to the late Harrison Wells.

Quietly moving around his lab, he checked his experiments.

It would be ready soon.

He would _not_ be erased!

The Flash would _pay_ for killing his original self.

* * *

**Room 3, Upstairs, The Leaky Cauldron, London, After the New Dawn**

**August 11th, 2008**

"You're late," Caitlin commented absently as Barry entered their room.

"Sorry," Barry said, "It took quite a bit to get a new wand."

Caitlin waved her hand in a dismissive gesture while she used her other hand to search her trunk for a specific book. "I'm not too surprised, considering that it's _you_ that we're talking about here, but why did it take you so long? I only took five minutes when I got my wand. You're twenty-five minutes late."

Barry sighed as she tossed him a book. Glancing at the title, he noticed that it was _Magical Oaths and Contracts_.

That would be interesting.

"Firstly, goblins are assholes, secondly, it's crazy hard to get a new wand. You'll never believe this. So it started when I made a tiny slip in the lobby…"

Ten minutes later, Caitlin was shaking her head. "Wow, that was interesting. Anyway, read that book you got there. There's some interesting stuff that you should probably know."

Barry shrugged. "I'll take a peek after dinner. Wanna go down?"

Her stomach grumbled in response.

Barry laughed. "I guess that answers that question. Let's go," he said, grabbing her hand.

The volume gradually rose as they got closer to the restaurant area.

Caitlin ordered the Fish and Chips, while Barry decided to be adventurous and ordered the Bangers and Mash, though he was a bit dubious, based on the name. Tom assured him that it was good, though.

Once their food arrived, Caitlin dug in immediately. She was eating so fast, Barry was sure she was at least using a _little_ Speed Force. Barry took a few hesitant bites.

Wow!

That was actually pretty good.

Barry sped up to around the same speed as Caitlin.

After finishing their meals, they both sat back, satisfied.

"What type of wand did you get?" she asked.

"It's funny," Barry said, wiping his mouth, "Mr. Ollivander thought it would be holly, but it ended up being willow; willow and phoenix feather, ten inches. Apparently, it's also great for speed casting."

Her eyes lit up and he mentally groaned. Apparently she had read a book on wandlore, he could tell. He mentally prepared himself for "teaching mode," as Harry had called it. This was a part of Hermione's personality that was showing.

"Willow is sometimes for healing and growth, which makes sense because of our accelerated healing. Also, I read that wand woods on the Celtic Calendar tend to associate themselves with magicals born during their time of year. For example, I have a vine wood wand, and Hermione was born on September 19th. The Vine Moon is from September 2nd to September 29th. So… Wait… Yes! Willow would make sense for you, because while you were born on March 14th, Harry was born on July 31st… Which are the Ash Moon and Holly Moon respectively, and are also the 2nd and 8th Moons. In between those two would be between the 5th and 6th Moons, meaning that you could go either way. Willow is the 5th Moon, and there you go."

Barry blinked. "But… exactly in between the birth dates is in the middle of the 6th Moon…" he said after some quick mental math.

"I'm not sure," she started, cutting him off, "but I think my thought process makes more sense, mainly because you have a willow wand, not a hawthorn wand. If you had a hawthorn wand I'd certainly agree with you more. I can't be sure though, because this is uncharted territory here. We're a bit unique. But really, do you think that hawthorn represents you? Masculine power, fire, fertility?"

Barry blushed. "Probably not."

She shot him an amused look.

"Also…" he continued, "What does wand length mean?"

Caitlin smiled. "It usually has to do with height, stature, and some other body measurements. However, it isn't the _current_ measurement, it usually goes off of one's physical potential. Why?"

Barry let out a breath. "That makes sense. My measurement was twelve, rather than the old eleven. That's probably because I'm a speedster now."

Caitlin frowned. "Why didn't I change, then?"

"I don't know, maybe it has to do with the fact that you also have ice powers?"

She shrugged and decided not to dwell on the topic anymore. They probably wouldn't find an answer just by debating, though Barry's theory made sense. "Let's go back upstairs. I want you to read the book on oaths and contracts."

Barry shrugged, taking a look at the bill, dropping the correct number of galleons on the table, and signaling to Tom that they had finished.

Taking Caitlin's hand, he walked up the steps to the rooms.

Stopping at _3_ , Barry pushed open the door and let Caitlin walk in first. As he shut the door, she sighed happily. "It's so much quieter up here."

"Yeah. I had almost forgotten what silence felt like."

She giggled a bit.

"Anyway," she said, straightening up, "here's the book."

As the heavy book flew towards his head, his arm snapped up to catch it.

Shaking his head with some degree of amusement, he moved over to lie on the bed and cracked the book open.

_Magical Oaths and Contracts_

_By: Sienna Ture_

_The first magical contract was signed in 751, and the first magical oath was vowed in 892.  
_ _What most people don't know, however, is that the first magical contract was enacted through  
coercion and that the first magical oath was an oath of fealty. As all magic is defined by intent,  
this made magical oaths inherently lighter magic than magical contracts. While neither is  
outlawed by the Ministry, it is best to be more cautious when entering a contract, as consequences  
enforced by magic are naturally more severe..._

* * *

_You'll never stop me, Barry, I'm always one step ahead…_


	3. Secrets, Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of this chapter (namely some parts of the letter from Mrs. Weasley) was taken verbatim from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J. K. Rowling."

**Previously on** _**After the New Dawn** _ **:**

_The man in the yellow suit bore a startling resemblance to the late Harrison Wells._

_Quietly moving around his lab, he checked his experiments._

_It would be ready soon._

_He would_ _**not** _ _be erased!_

_The Flash would pay._

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Secrets, Secrets**

**Earth-1, Before the New Dawn**

**August 11th, 2017**

It was coming soon, Eobard could feel it.

Oh, how _giddy_ it made him feel. For once, _he'd_ be the best! The Flash would be no more! _Erased from existence!_

Best of all, it was he, Eobard, that caused it!

Well… maybe not _him_ , but a version of him, at least.

The simple thought was enough to make him scream in triumph.

But he had to concentrate. One mistake, and he'd share the same fate of his nemesis, his _reverse_.

The Speed Force wouldn't save him this time.

He gripped the tachyon enhancer harder at the thought. He'd have to access the Negative Speed Force. It would save him, but also change him irreparably.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your perspective, it happened to be rather difficult to enter the Negative Speed Force.

One wrong move and he'd be erased, his essence would be ripped apart into minuscule pieces before being swallowed by the Speed Force. Ouch.

He shook away the thoughts and set his gaze forward. The time to act was getting closer. He fixed the enhancer to his chest and let his red lightning surround him, enveloping, bathing him in its power. In an explosion of movement and speed, he shot forward, running faster than he ever had before.

He let his negative emotions fill him.

Anger, jealousy, fear.

Rage, envy, terror.

The Negative Speed Force would set him free.

More red lightning erupted from within him.

In front of him, a red breach formed, and he jumped into it.

In an instant, everything changed. His speed was ripped away before being replaced with something else, something more primal, more aggressive. Malice flooded his body, ripping it apart and remaking it in its original form, the image of Eobard Thawne, in the blink of an eye. He felt faster and more powerful than he ever had.

His connection to the Speed Force had been severed and his connection to the Negative Speed Force had been cultivated.

It was pain like he'd never felt before.

* * *

**Space, After the New Dawn**

**August 12th, 2008**

Two pods were racing forward at a high speed.

A course had been automatically set for the nearest life-sustaining planet, Earth.

A beeping red light indicated the estimated arrival time, measured in the local timescale:

 _September 1st, 2008_.

* * *

**Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire, England**

**August 11th, 2008**

Draco Malfoy was bored. Father was out with his friends and Mother was reading. It would be _unwise_ to disturb her.

Aimlessly wandering around the Manor was all poor little Draco could do, considering he wasn't allowed to use the floo unsupervised. He was bored out of his mind.

When he entered the dining room, everything started to float. Draco's eyes widened in fright. This wasn't his fault, but Father would punish him regardless.

The air in the room seemed to _tear open_ as a blood-red portal opened. A man in a yellow suit shot out and impacted the wall heavily, creating a small man-shaped crater.

Red lightning traveled up and down his arms, crackling quietly.

As Draco hesitantly approached the man, the red portal swirled closed and the man's eyes shot open.

They were pure red. No whites, no pupils, just red. Seeing Draco, the man smirked, and it was terrifying.

The next thing he knew, he was up against the wall, the man holding him in place with one arm, the other vibrating rapidly, looking as if it was positioned to puncture his chest.

He cocked his head to the side slightly, as if analyzing Draco.

" **No,"** he said in a deep, vibrating voice, " **You can be useful. You're my way in."** Draco gulped.

Without letting go of Draco, he took out a small silver device. Smirking, he extended it, stabbed Draco with one end, and stabbed himself with the other.

Draco tried to scream, but no noise came out.

As Draco Malfoy, Heir to the House of Malfoy, withered and died, Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash, shifted and transformed, taking on his new identity.

* * *

**The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole**

**August 12th, 2008**

Molly Weasley hummed a lively tune as she wrote out a letter.

It was a very important letter, it was a letter to Harry. She hoped that it would prompt him to visit. It wouldn't do for him to continue gallivanting around unsupervised. After all, he was only fourteen.

She tied the letter to the leg of an owl.

_Dear Harry,_

_Next Saturday, on August 18th, the final of the Quidditch World Cup will take place. Arthur has managed to get prime tickets through his connections at the Department of Magical Games and Sports._

_I do hope that you would decide to come with us, as this really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; Britain hasn't hosted the cup for thirty years, and tickets are extremely hard to come by…_

* * *

**Room 3, Upstairs, The Leaky Cauldron, London**

**August 12th, 2008**

The first thing Barry noticed when he woke up was that he was _really sore_.

"Oww…" he groaned, rolling away from Caitlin but unfortunately falling off the bed in the process, causing more pain.

"Shit," Caitlin said blearily. "Did you catch the name of the hippogriff that trampled me?"

Barry shook his head uncomprehendingly. "We didn't get drunk, did we? Wait, no… we can't get drunk. Why am I so damn sore?"

Caitlin slowly opened her eyes before slamming them shut once more. "Too bright," she groaned, unconsciously closing the blinds with magic.

"Aah… that's better," Barry said, finally opening his eyes.

What he saw then surprised him more than anything else, Caitlin was staring him wide-eyed. "I think I know why you're so sore. Look at yourself, Barry, I think the Speed Force fixed your body overnight."

Barry didn't hear any of that, he was staring wide-eyed at Caitlin. "Merlin, Caitlin, you look gorgeous right now!"

She blushed. "Did you hear any of what I just said?"

He shook his head sheepishly. "Uh, sorry, no…"

She rolled her eyes. "Barry, look at yourself. Your body looks like it got fixed overnight."

Finally managing to break his gaze away from Caitlin, he examined his own body. She was right, he was taller and bulkier. He didn't have bulging muscles or anything, but he wasn't the skinny runt he had been previously. His body had generally filled out, so he no longer had the malnourished look. Tugging up his shirt, he noticed that he even had abs.

He now understood Caitlin's reaction. "Huh." He glanced at Caitlin. "Look at yourself too, Caitlin, you look great. Not that you didn't look great before, but wow!"

Looking at herself, she noted that she had lean muscles all over her body, and her body seemed to have matured a bit, as her chest was a bit larger. She was also considerably taller, though just an inch short of Barry's new height. Tugging down a strand of her hair, she noticed that it was no longer bushy, just mildly frizzy. She absently noted that her teeth seemed smaller as well. That part wasn't as important.

"Okay," Caitlin said after completing her examination, "We need new clothes."

Barry nodded. He'd been thinking the same thing.

With that, they sped around the room, getting ready for the day.

Caitlin frowned, noting that the hem of her shirt rested at just above her belly-button. "Not ideal," she muttered.

Just a minute or two later, they found themselves in _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions_ , browsing the wizarding clothing.

After they each selected two full sets of robes, paid, and flashed back to their room.

After putting their robes away, Barry and Caitlin left the wizarding community and entered muggle London, on the prowl for some clothing stores.

Around twenty minutes later, they met back in their room, fully outfitted with new clothes.

Sitting on the table, looking rather innocent, was an owl.

As Caitlin walked over, it stuck out its leg, which had a letter tied to it.

She frowned as she sat at the table. _Who would send us owl post?_

She picked it up and examined it.

 _Harry Potter_ , said the loopy script on the envelope.

Oh.

She recognized the handwriting.

Molly Weasley's handwriting.

It sure took her a long time to send that invitation.

… _We would of course be glad to have you over for the rest of the summer holiday, Harry, and to see you safely onto the train back to school._

_We do hope that this letter finds you in good health, and we are all dreadfully worried about you, going missing like that. We must get Hermione to talk some sense into you, yes? Anyway, we'd all love to see you, especially Ron, he's been quite worried._

_Hoping to see you soon,_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Molly Weasley_

_P.S. If you do happen to see Hermione around (though I hope she hasn't run away too), would you please remind her to respond to us? She still hasn't answered our invitation._

Caitlin snorted at the part about Hermione talking sense into him.

Barry glanced at Caitlin with a small smile as he took a seat across from her at the table. "My, my, Miss Punctual, you're slipping! You haven't even RSVP'd!" he teased.

"Oh, shut it," she retorted, playfully slapping him. "We should reply together."

He looked perplexed. "Why would we do that? Wouldn't that ruin the whole 'Harry ran away and is off by himself' thing?"

Caitlin shrugged. "I mean, they'll eventually figure that I'm not home anymore. Plus, it's not like they can keep us apart. I'm sticking with you, Mr. Allen."

He thought for a moment. "That _would_ be funny, but it would cause a bunch of uncomfortable questions, like 'Why did you run away with him?' and a bunch of other stuff I'm not too comfortable with answering now." Suddenly, a thought struck him. "We shouldn't be doing this. I keep forgetting that we aren't in our twenties anymore. We're both fourteen! We can't be on our own, legally speaking. Your parents hold legal sway over you, and the Dursleys hold legal sway over me."

She lit up. "Wait, wait. I remember reading something…"

"Oh God, here it comes," Barry groaned teasingly.

"…in one of those books we got. It's got to do with emancipation and whatnot, also I'm pretty sure that Wizarding Britain still has laws and procedures for betrothals. We could get you emancipated and then I could be put under your protection through betrothal!"

Barry facepalmed. "This is why we never let you plan," he groused with a playful edge to his voice. "We are _not_ getting betrothed. Emancipation might work, though. I'm pretty sure the goblins are scared of me now. Actually, if you're a descendent of a squib, could you technically be an heir to one of those dead houses?"

She looked thoughtful. "That could work, legally speaking, but it would still be frowned upon. Also, why is emancipation covered by Gringotts? They're a bank."

Barry shrugged. "I don't know, wizards are fucking weird. They trust the goblins with _way_ too much in my opinion. Sure, not all the goblins are greedy scumbags, but at least one out of the three that I've met so far has been. Also, considering all those goblin rebellions, they don't seem like a particularly friendly race."

"You've got to consider the Ministry's creature laws, though. Those things are super oppressive. Goblins, being a magical species, should naturally be allowed to have wands or other foci, but since the ICW came into power, goblins and any other non-human magical species owning a wand are illegal. I mean, look at the house-elves. Those cute little guys are literally slaves. There isn't even a symbiotic relationship or anything. Elves are just bound to humans. If I remember correctly, conditions of their surrender in war quite a bit back were them being bound as slaves. I'm not super surprised that the goblins are a bit testy towards wizards."

"Hm," Barry said. "Never thought about it that way. But wait a minute, about elves, you said _a condition of their surrender_ , right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Magical contracts," Barry practically growled. "Remember the book we read on them? Magical contracts are almost dark, the punishments usually being rather severe. Do you remember what the books said happened to freed house-elves?"

She gasped. "Over time, they lose their magic!" She looked at him, and seeing the determined glint in his eyes, nodded fervently, expressing her approval.

"Dobby!" Barry called anxiously.

With a sharp _pop!_ , Dobby popped into their room. "Great Mister Harry Potter sir is being looked for by the Whiskers! Harry Potter's Grangy being here too?" His large round eyes widened further. "But yous seeming different, Dobby says! Yous seeming fast, yous seeming really speedy! How can Dobby help?"

Caitlin had to stifle a laugh.

"We'd like to hire you, Dobby. We know what the backlash from the magical contract does to your kind, and we want to help," Barry explained.

"Backlashes?" Dobby asked confusedly.

Caitlin slapped a hand to her mouth, stifling her giggles. This was just too _cute!_

After shooting her a mild glare, Barry turned back to Dobby. "I read that when you are freed with clothes, your magic fades over time."

Dobby looked surprised. "Dobby _has_ been noticing changes. He has noticed work is being harder for Dobby since the Great Harry Potter sir be freeing him from Bad Master. Dobby will work for Great Master Harry Potter and his Grangy."

With that last sentence, Barry and Caitlin's hands glowed a pale blue, and Dobby's hands glowed a deep red.

Dobby jumped for joy. "Dobby is feeling so much better! Dobby will go clean the Potter home right away, Master Harry!"

"Wait!" called Barry, a split second before Dobby would have disappeared. "What Potter home?"

Dobby looked at Barry like he had three heads. "Master is not knowing about the Hollow of the Godrics?"

"Godric's Hollow!" Caitlin gasped. "I thought the Ministry bought the land there, turning it into a memorial."

"No, no, Mistress," Dobby said, "Naughty Ministries be building things there that they not be allowed to. Dobby will magic away bad structures and fix the Potter home. Dobby will come back when the Potter home is ready for Master and Mistress to live in."

Not giving them a chance to respond, he left with a sharp _pop!_

Barry smirked at Caitlin. "Did he call you 'Mistress'?"

She blushed. "Yes, I think he did, though I can't tell if that's because we're engaged or if that's just because he pledged to work to both of us."

"Why would us being engaged have any effect on it?" Barry asked.

"Think about it, Barry. You made a _promise_ when you whispered that we would get married here too last night. I saw a small flash of white that was centered around our ring fingers. I'm surprised that you didn't notice, seeing as you're the CSI here."

Barry had a quick flashback to the night before…

_They lied together, him spooning her. She sighed in contentment. This was how it was supposed to be._

" _Barry," she whispered, eyes firmly shut._

" _Yes, Caitlin?" he asked, his eyes opening._

" _What are we going to do?" she asked with a hint of nervousness._

" _What do you mean?" he replied, propping himself up on one elbow and cupping her chin._

" _We were engaged back home, what are we going to do here? We're fourteen again! We can't get married for years now!"_

_He sighed. "Caitlin, I love you, you love me, and one day, we'll be a happy family…" he sang softly._

_She smiled up at him, finally opening her eyes and looking into his._

" _Yes, we'll be a happy family_ _ **together**_ _."_

_He lied back down and resumed spooning her, and just before he closed his eyes, he saw small flashes of light around their ring fingers._

_Being too tired to reflect on it, he just pushed aside thoughts of the strange occurrence and fell asleep._

…and he was dumbstruck. "You mean that engagements are binding here?"

"Yes," she said, "But only if you _really_ mean it."

He smiled at her. "Good thing I _really_ meant it, then."

She looked into his eyes. "You aren't upset about this, then?"

"No," he said firmly. "I love you, you love me, and one day, we'll be a happy family…"

She smiled at the repetition of his short song from last night.

A shrill whistle from down in the alley ruined the moment.

With a long-suffering sigh, Barry got up, stretched in an exaggerated manner, and stalked over to the window and peered outside, searching for the source of the noise.

Caitlin giggled. "What is it?" she asked.

Barry shrugged. "Some kid was messing around with a Zonko's product, and it let out a loud whistle."

"Of course," she said with a sigh. "Anyway, let's head over to Gringotts. We should get this done sooner rather than later, and I don't think we'll be in the alley for much longer, considering that we've got Dobby working in Godric's Hollow."

Barry nodded and they flashed away together.

* * *

**Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire, England**

**August 14th, 2008**

Eobard Thawne was rather annoyed.

He had no freedom here. He already had to kill the elf that was tasked with spying on Draco after he had transformed.

Now that _that_ elf was dead, there was just another one assigned to him. He wanted to get started on his plan, he wanted to show the world that he was the Reverse-Flash. He wanted to inspire terror. He needed no elaborate plans, seeing as the Flash was gone, and the people of this society were just _so stupid_. They'd just wave their wands at their problems and wish them away. He'd have no problems terrorizing them.

In the meantime, he was reading the Malfoy library, absorbing as much knowledge of this 'magic' as he could.

A tiny brown owl flew through a nearby window that was open.

That was another thing that annoyed him. Seriously, who the hell had the bright idea to use _owls_ for _mail?_

Snatching the pathetic bird out of the air and ignoring its audible protests, he quickly untied the letter.

It was a letter from Draco's friend, Gregory Goyle.

_Draco,_

_I'm looking forward to seeing you later this week at the World Cup…_

Eobard stilled. This was his opportunity.

* * *

**Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow**

**August 16th, 2008**

Barry rummaged through his trunk.

Wizarding tent?

Check.

Broom?

Check.

Miniaturized library trunk?

Check.

Triwizard tournament rule book?

Check.

"Barry!" came a call from downstairs.

"Yeah, Cait?" he hollered back.

"Are you packed yet? We should probably go soon!"

With a sigh, he glanced back down at the rule book in his hands. For some reason, Hogwarts was hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year. It was being kept very quiet, and the only reason that Barry knew was that he overheard a _very_ drunk Ludo Bagman spilling his deepest secrets in the Leaky Cauldron, back on the twelfth.

"Just a minute, just doing a final check!"

A soft hoot from the owl perch across the room reminded Barry of what he was forgetting.

"Right, sorry Hedwig. You've got to stay here. I've put some food and water out for you, so you should be fine for the next few days. Me and Caitlin should be back by the nineteenth, so don't worry about running out of food. On the off chance that we get held up, we'll take turns running over and setting out some more food for you, okay? I know you don't need the food, but it's better that you stay inside. You'll be better protected."

Hedwig nodded.

Barry sighed. It wasn't until late on the twelfth that he and Caitlin had noticed something missing.

Hedwig wasn't there. Crookshanks wasn't there either, but Caitlin was sure her parents would take care of him.

She had been out hunting when Barry had left the Dursleys and was unfortunately forgotten.

It turned out fine, though, as she had just waited for Barry to come back. She kept herself fed by hunting around.

Barry shrunk his trunk and put it in his pocket.

Flashing to the front lawn, he was awaited by Caitlin, who was standing there with a stern look on her face.

"We need to go."

"Of course, Lady Dagworth-Granger," Barry said with a smile.

She huffed good-naturedly. "Alright, Lord Potter. Time to go."

She took her wand into her right hand and stuck it up in the air.

The Knight Bus appeared with a _bang!_

As the doors opened, Stan peered at them. "Oy, Neville, who's the bird with you?"

Caitlin turned red.

"Just a friend," Barry said, stammering slightly.

"Oh, none 'o that. What's your name, lass?"

"Caitlin," she said meekly.

"Alright Catie, Neville, climb aboard. Where to?"

"Ottery St. Catchpole," Barry said, pulling out eleven sickles.

"Thanks, mate," Stan said, grabbing the coins.

The bus shot off with another _bang!_ Caitlin held onto Barry for dear life.

"Fun, isn't it?" Barry said, smirking.

"Shut it," Caitlin retorted.

A little while later, the bus pulled to a stop in the middle of a small town.

"See ya," Stan said brightly as the duo hopped off, before closing the doors and leaving with another _bang!_

Barry turned to Caitlin. "Race you?" he asked playfully.

Caitlin shrugged. "At least I can get to my suit easily now, thanks to the ring you made. Thanks for making that, by the way."

Shrugging, his arm shot forward and his suit flew out of his ring. In a blink of an eye, he was in it.

He looked pointedly at the ring on Caitlin's finger, noticing that she wasn't in her suit yet.

The next thing he knew was her standing next to him, wearing her suit. It was a modified version of the suit that Cisco made for Jesse. Rather than the color scheme of red and gold, it was instead a silver and sapphire, where the silver replaced the red and the sapphire replaced the gold. Additionally, instead of a lightning bolt symbol on the chest, it was a blue snowflake. The mask was also sapphire-colored and stuck to Caitlin's face without the need for a string.

" **I maintain that you look hot in that,"** he said, disguising his voice by vibrating his vocal cords.

She rolled her eyes. " **See you soon, Flash!"** she said in her 'Frost' voice before crackling with blue lightning and speeding away.

Almost instantly, Barry was right next to her, his legs and arms a blur. " **You can't get away from me, Frost!"**

Laughing, she shoved him slightly before speeding up.

The rest of the run to the Weasley's was very competitive. Both ended up plowed into the ground more than once while the other laughed, and they both arrived looking somewhat disheveled.

After catching their breath, they phased out of their suits and walked up to the door.

Barry took a deep breath.

"Don't worry, Barry," Caitlin soothed. "They can't keep us here. We're legally adults."

Nodding slowly, he hesitantly knocked on the door.

The door was quickly wrenched open by a very concerned-looking Mrs. Weasley, who quickly pulled Barry into a bear hug and started weeping.

"Oh my!" she fretted after pulling away. "You must be starved, all on your own since the eleventh! Oh, Hermione dear, you must come inside too. To be perfectly honest, we weren't sure if you were coming, you never replied!"

Barry smiled indulgently. "Don't worry, Mrs. Weasley. I've been getting plenty of food. I've actually been staying at the Leaky for the past week. I actually feel better than ever!"

That's when she noticed. "Oh my, Harry! Look how much you've grown. It seems that those horrible muggles actually fed you this summer! And where are your glasses?"

Barry smiled, genuinely this time. "I got them fixed at a muggle eye-doctor. The Dursleys never bothered to take me before. I don't need glasses anymore."

Mrs. Weasley looked like she was going to burst from too much happiness. "Alright, dears. You must come inside, then. Ron has been especially worried."

She stepped aside and beckoned them in. The stepped into the living room, which immediately fell silent.

Barry looked around the room while Caitlin uncomfortably fidgeted. Two red-headed boys that Barry hadn't seen before and assumed were Bill and Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, and Mr. Weasley were staring at them in shock.

Ron recovered first. "You bloody arse! You completely vanished, you bastard! Mum was out of her mind worried, and _now_ you show up?" he screamed.

The room was deathly silent, save for Ron's heaving breaths.

Barry spoke quietly. "Me and Ca-Hermione need to speak with you, Ron. This will just take a minute."

After giving him a _very_ suspicious glance, Ron stomped outside, passing Mrs. Weasley. "Oh, don't worry. I'm sure he'll get over it," Mrs. Weasley said, sounding very concerned.

"It'll be fine," Barry said, "We just need to talk over a few things. We were going to talk to him anyway, this just means we'll be doing it sooner."

Giving her a reassuring smile, Barry took Caitlin's hand and they walked outside together.

They found Ron in the orchard.

"What do you want?" he practically spat.

Barry flashed in front of him and he staggered backward, visibly shocked. "What the bloody hell was that, Harry?"

Barry chuckled. "I'm not Harry Potter… Well, I guess I am, at least partially, but I'm more than _just him_ now."

"What?" Ron said, clearly baffled.

"My name is Barry Allen, and I'm the fastest man alive. When I was a child I saw my mother killed by something impossible; my father went to prison for her murder. Then an accident made me the impossible. To the outside world, I'm an ordinary forensic scientist, or rather, Harry Potter, but secretly, I use my speed to fight crime and find others like me. The man who killed my mother traveled back in time in order to kill my friends and family, but in doing so, he ruined the timeline. He created a new multiverse with new threats, and I am the only one fast enough to stop them. I am the Flash."

Caitlin slapped Barry's arm. "You're not the _only_ one anymore, Barry. You have me."

"Yeah, I know," Barry said, "I just like that monologue."

Ron broke down into hysterical laughter. "You're the Flash? That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard all day!"

Barry sighed before flashing into his suit. Caitlin quickly did the same. Ron was left gaping. "Bloody hell! You're… actually the Flash? Who are you then? You don't act like Hermione."

Caitlin smiled. "Caitlin Snow, or Frost."

"Caitlin Snow," Ron mumbled. "Frost… _Killer Frost?_ "

"Do you understand why we left now?" Barry asked.

Ron frowned. "Where are my best friends then?"

Caitlin smiled. "In here," she said. "We're both mixtures. I'm part-Caitlin, part-Hermione. Same with Barry. We remember everything from both lives. We're still your friends, only now, we're a bit more. We do, however, find it easier to respond to Barry and Caitlin, simply because we have more memories of that life."

"Things are going to change, but we're still your friends," Barry interjected.

Ron rubbed his eyes. "I guess I can understand why you left. It has to be pretty weird to wake up in a whole new world. Also, you might want to fix your accents. You're sounding pretty… _American_. Someone else will notice really fast if you don't fix that."

"Damn," Barry muttered. "Never thought of that."

Ron gave them a look. "You know that since you came here, you can't exactly leave again, being underage, mate."

"Yes we can," Caitlin said with a smirk. "Do you really think we would have come if there was any possibility of us being trapped here?"

"What did you do?"

"Emancipation."

Ron's eyes widened. "How'd you do that?"

Caitlin laughed and Barry blushed. "Umm… the goblins _might_ be a bit afraid of me."

Ron shook his head. "Bloody hell. That's impressive."

Barry stepped forward. "Hug?"

Ron laughed. "Sure, mate."

He stepped up to pull his friend into a hug. Not even a second later, Caitlin happily joined them.

"How are we going to get around their questions? Knowing that you're partially Hermione, you'd never let him come without an explanation," Ron asked after pulling away.

Barry and Caitlin exchanged a look. "We've already worked it out. The Dursleys were exceptionally nasty this year, and I spent some days away, hanging out with Hermione, who took the Knight Bus to Surrey. When she got her invitation to the World Cup, we assumed that I would be invited too. Eventually, I got fed up with the Dursleys and fled to the Leaky Cauldron. I stayed there until I got the invitation. Once I did, I went and picked up Hermione, and we took the Knight Bus here," Barry recited.

Ron nodded. "That's pretty plausible. I think Mum will probably believe it. It explains you showing up here together, and Ha - er - Barry showing up here."

"You can still call us Harry and Hermione," Caitlin said, "We should probably still naturally answer to that, seeing as part of us is Harry and Hermione."

Ron let out a breath. "That's good. It's hard to associate you with these new people you've merged with."

"Inside?" Barry suggested.

"Sure," Ron said, smiling again.

Caitlin shrugged. "Let's see if this story works," she muttered.

They cautiously made their way back to the house, and Ron hesitantly knocked on the door. Mrs. Weasley wrenched it open, looking eager. "Did you make up?"

Ron laughed. "Yes, Mum. It's alright. We're perfectly fine."

One of the twins, probably Fred, laughed. "How'd you two manage that?

"He was spitting mad a few minutes ago!" probably-George added.

"Brainwashing?"

"Mind control?"

"Hey, that's basically-"

"-what you just said?"

"Exactly."

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure."

"Anyway-"

"Stop it, you two!" Mrs. Weasley snapped, cutting them off.

"Like a bloody tennis match," Ron muttered.

Barry looked at Ron strangely. "You _have_ been living with him all your life, right?"

"One would think you'd be used to it by now," Caitlin added.

Ginny snickered.

"Moving on," Mr. Weasley said. "Where exactly were you, Harry, and why is Hermione with you?"

Barry took a deep breath and recited their planned story. "The Dursleys were exceptionally nasty this year, and I spent some days away, hanging out with Hermione, who took the Knight Bus to Surrey. When she got her invitation to the World Cup, we assumed that I would be invited too. Eventually, I got fed up with the Dursleys and fled to the Leaky Cauldron. I stayed there until I got the invitation. Once I did, I went and picked up Hermione, and we took the Knight Bus here."

Ron's eyebrows rose. That was literally word-for-word what he said to earlier.

Mr. Weasley nodded. "Okay, I understand that. I guess that means you're staying for the rest of the summer, then?"

Barry shifted uncomfortably. "Umm… I've actually occasionally been heading over to one of the old Potter residences and cleaning it up. I wanted to spend the rest of the summer there. I've put a lot of work into it."

"You can't really do that, you know, just living on your own," Mr. Weasley pointed out.

Barry fidgeted. "Actually, I can…" he trailed off.

"Out with it!" Mrs. Weasley prompted.

"I wanted to make sure I didn't have to go back to the Dursleys, so I got myself emancipated."

The room was thick with tension.

"Oh… okay…" Mr. Weasley said, clearly uncomfortable.

Mrs. Weasley was struggling to keep a handle on her temper.

"How'd you manage that?" probably-George piped up.

Everyone in the room save for Ron and Caitlin looked at Barry expectantly, who scrambled for an explanation.

"Well… I'm the last Potter," Barry said as if it explained everything.

It wasn't the truth, but it did seem to appease everyone.

Mrs. Weasley, who had calmed herself down, nodded. "Right. Well, Harry can room with Ron, and Hermione can room with Ginny. Would that be alright, Harry dear?"

After exchanging a sad glance with Caitlin, Barry nodded, albeit hesitantly. It didn't seem like anyone noticed, however.

With that, everything was back to normal within the Weasley household.

After a round of introductions where Bill and Charlie were introduced to Barry and Caitlin, probably-George, who turned out to actually be Fred, was sent up to grab Percy, and the large group moved out to the garden and sat down for dinner, discussing the World Cup.

Barry smiled at Caitlin.

Everything was great.

* * *

_Secrets, secrets, are no fun unless they're shared with everyone…_


	4. Reverse of Everything You Stand For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of this chapter was taken verbatim from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J. K. Rowling."

**Previously on** _**After the New Dawn** _ **:**

_-Draco,_

_-I'm looking forward to seeing you later this week at the World Cup…_

_Eobard stilled. This was his opportunity._

…

_After a round of introductions where Bill and Charlie were introduced to Barry and Caitlin, the large group sat down for dinner._

_Barry smiled at Caitlin._

_Everything was great._

* * *

**Chapter 4 - Reverse of Everything You Stand For**

**The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, After the New Dawn**

**August 18th, 2008**

"Up, Harry, up!" came an excited voice. Barry was too sleepy to figure out who it was.

Barry could feel whoever it was, probably Caitlin, jumping up and down on his bed.

"Ugh… Caitlin, shut your gob! I'm tryin' to sleep!" Barry said groggily.

The jumping stopped.

"Who the hell is Caitlin?" came an irritated voice.

Barry's eyes shot open, instantly awake and alert, the normally dormant Speed Force in his system coursing through his veins.

It wasn't Caitlin, it was _Ginny_.

Shit.

"Ah… sorry, Ginny. It was this muggle girl I had a crush on, don't worry. I was too sleepy to think straight."

"Is that why you sound American?" she asked sternly.

Double shit.

"Um…" he stammered, British accent falling back into place.

"Whoever you are, you aren't Harry Potter, that's for sure. Harry couldn't have talked Ron down yesterday. Harry wouldn't have run away. Harry couldn't have knocked Ron down with that witty remark of 'You _have_ been living with him, right?' Harry wouldn't have gotten emancipated. Who the hell are you?"

Triple shit.

Barry rubbed his eyes, feeling too tired to deal with this. "I had no idea that you knew me that well."

"Cut the crap, impostor."

"How can I prove I'm Harry?"

"Say what the single most embarrassing thing I've done in front of you was."

Barry blinked before digging through his memories. "Butter dish."

Ginny blushed. "If you're really Harry, why are you so different?"

He sighed, realizing there was no way out. He'd give her part of the truth. "I've got memories from some dude who lived in the previous universe. His name was Bartholomew, or Barry, as he liked to be called, and he was American. His fiancée's name was Caitlin. I got these memories by finding his ring, an object that he imbued his memories with."

Ginny's eyes widened as the pieces fell into place. The maturity was from memories of another life. The personality changes must have been consistent with the other guy's personality. The American accent - the guy was American. Caitlin - his fiancée's name was Caitlin.

"Please don't tell anyone, though," Barry pleaded. "I'd rather keep this quiet. I especially don't want to get hauled down to the Department of Mysteries."

Ginny nodded, taking on a determined look. "I won't say anything. Just know that the twins are on to you as well. They actually sent me up to see what I'd get off of you. Don't worry, though, I'm trustworthy. They won't get anything from me."

Barry let out a breath as she skipped out of the room.

"Bloody hell," Ron commented. Barry jumped. He hadn't remembered he was in there too. "She tore you apart, mate. Are you sure you should have told her, though?"

Barry smiled. "I only told her part of it. She doesn't know I'm fast, and she doesn't know about Caitlin being Hermione. I do think, though, that she needed someone to put trust in her, y'know. We pretty much ignored her in Hogwarts, and I don't think she's got too many friends apart from this one girl, Demelza, I think she's called. We should be nicer to her."

Ron nodded. "You're right. I need to be nicer to her."

Barry stretched, his back cracking in several places. He sighed, feeling significantly less tense. "I'm going to go wake Caitlin up. You start to pack. I know for a fact that you haven't started yet."

"Yeah, yeah," Ron grumbled, finally getting out of bed, "Go wake up sleeping beauty. Don't come crying to me when she comes and rips you apart. She did that to me once in the common room."

"Ah," Barry said, "but you've forgotten something."

"What?"

"We love each other."

"Ew… that's too mushy for my tastes. Just… no snogging in front of me, alright?"

"Fine," Barry agreed readily. They only snogged in private anyway.

Watching as Ron started grabbing things and stuffing them in his trunk, Barry shook his head in amusement before turning and making his way to the room that Ginny and Caitlin shared.

After a short knock on the door, he stood and waited. When Ginny didn't answer, he cautiously pushed it open. He smiled upon seeing Caitlin sleeping, sprawled all over her bed.

She looked very cute, at least in Barry's opinion.

He quietly walked to the side of her bed and sat down. He smiled when she unconsciously shifted a bit closer to him.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and smirked before letting loose a small jolt of electricity.

Her eyes shot open and sparkled with blue electricity while she yelped. Not bothering to look at who was there, she swung up a fist _very fast_ , sending Barry flying into the wall.

"Damn, Cait!" he groaned, cradling his now broken arm.

" **You know better than to wake me up like that,"** she said, accidentally using her disguised voice.

"But… you broke my arm!"

"Don't overthink it, you've got accelerated healing."

Barry groaned again before opening the void and allowing a massive amount of Speed Force into his system. Lightning arched off his body and shot down to the break in his arm.

In just a few seconds, it was fully healed.

She was looking at him wide-eyed. "You _have_ to teach me that!"

"You have much to learn, young padawan," Barry intoned solemnly while Caitlin giggled.

"Hey," she said, "I wonder if they've got Star Wars here?"

"No clue. If anyone was to know, it would be you," Barry said while shrugging.

She got out of bed and stretched, her shirt riding up and showing her stomach. "If it is, I haven't watched it. I never paid much attention to my peers before Hogwarts. Now, get out, fiancée. I'm changing."

"Nothing I haven't seen before," Barry teased.

She raised an eyebrow. "You want Mrs. Weasley to find me naked in here with you?"

He paled dramatically. "I'm going to go pack," he said, giving her a kiss before flashing away.

"You're already packed," she muttered with no small amount of amusement.

* * *

**Undisclosed Location**

**August 18th, 2008**

Lucius Malfoy stood before his friends of many years.

"Hello, my friends. Tonight, we'll have some fun. It's the perfect opportunity. We even have a new ally."

As if on cue, a man in a yellow suit streaked into the room, followed by a trail of red lightning. He circled around the assembled group a few times before coming to a stop next to Lucius.

His eyes were purely red, filled with bloodlust and malice.

"This is my new friend. You may call him the Reverse-Flash."

The group cheered, and Reverse-Flash smirked, satisfied with his momentary victory.

The real fun was yet to come.

* * *

**The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole**

**August 18th, 2008**

Barry marched down to the kitchen, Ron in tow.

"Why do we have to be up so early?" groaned Fred, who was rubbing his eyes wearily.

"We've got a bit of a walk," Mr. Weasley explained.

"Where's Percy, Bill, and Charlie anyway?" Ron grumbled.

"Oh, they're apparating, right?" Mrs. Weasley said.

"So they can sleep a bit more," Mr. Weasley confirmed.

"Still in bed, then?" George complained. "Why couldn't we apparate?"

"Because you've not passed your test, and you aren't of age!" Mrs. Weasley snapped. Suddenly, she looked around the room. "Where have those girls gotten off to?"

With that, she marched away, most likely to grab Caitlin and Ginny, who were still upstairs.

Barry suddenly remembered something that had been said recently. "Wait - walk? Are we walking to the World Cup?" That wouldn't be too much of a problem, he had the stamina for it, he was just worried it would take too long.

"No, no," said Mr. Weasley. "It's much too far for that. We only have to walk for a short bit. It's just a bit difficult for wizards to congregate without drawing the attention of the Muggles. We've got to be careful, especially at a huge occasion such as the World Cup."

It was at this moment that Mrs. Weasley dragged Caitlin and Ginny into the room. Both were looking rather irritated, and Barry noticed that Caitlin was even carrying her trunk, meaning she hadn't had a chance to shrink it yet, and would probably have to walk with it if she couldn't get away for a short bit.

Suddenly, Mrs. Weasley stopped, prompting Ginny to walk into her and stumble backward a bit.

"George!" she said sharply.

"What?" he said innocently.

"What's that, in your pocket?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you lie to me!"

She pointed her wand at his pants. George yelped and covered his privates.

Barry chuckled quietly.

" _Accio!"_ Mrs. Weasley incanted.

" _Accio! Accio! Accio!"_

Several brightly colored objects flew from George's pockets, spinning in the air as they shot towards Mrs. Weasley.

After catching them, she turned and quickly did the same to Fred who squeaked indignantly.

"I _told_ you not to make any more of these! You were told to destroy the lot!"

Barry turned to Ron with a confused look. "What are those?"

Ron snorted. "Fred and George have been making these prank-sweets. They called those Ton-Tongue Toffees. They spent ages making them."

"Really?" Barry said eagerly, "What do they do?"

Caitlin glared at Barry as she walked up behind him. "Don't you even _think_ about it, Allen!" she whispered.

Barry hung his head, trying and failing to look repentant.

Ron gave her a confused look, and she explained. "He was _most certainly_ thinking of testing those on me to see if they still worked on speedsters."

With a look of dawning realization, Ron nearly collapsed laughing, the result of which was George giving him a death glare.

Ron gulped, his laughing abruptly abated, obviously afraid of whatever retaliation might come from George.

Ignoring Ron's plight, Barry and Caitlin focused back on the ongoing confrontation.

"-spent six months developing those!" Fred shouted at Mrs. Weasley, who's expression became impossibly more disapproving as she vanished the toffees.

"Oh, what a fine way to spend _six months!_ No wonder you didn't do better on your O.W.L.s! You wasted all your time on these _toffees!_ "

Essentially, there wasn't a particularly friendly vibe as they left the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley was still in a towering rage as she kissed Mr. Weasley on the cheek, though the twins were seemingly angrier, having left without a word to her.

"Have a lovely time!" she called after them, "and remember to _behave yourselves!_ I'll send Bill and Charlie along with Percy around noon."

Outside, it was cold, not quite morning yet, and only Caitlin seemed to be immune to the cold, a fact which baffled everyone apart from Ron and Barry.

Picturing thousands of wizards spewing into a single campsite, Barry sped up towards Mr. Weasley, pulling Caitlin with him.

"How does everyone get there without Muggles noticing?" he asked curiously, and Caitlin perked up, clearly interested in the information being provided.

Mr. Weasley sighed. "It's been a massive organizational problem within the Ministry. There have been some rather large arguments between the Department of Magical Games and Sports and the Department of Magical Transportation. Even the DMLE's been called in a few times to weigh in. The problem is, we've got to accommodate an absolutely massive amount of wizards, I reckon at least a hundred thousand. Of course, there isn't really a magical site large enough to accommodate everyone. Obviously, there are places Muggles can't get to, but we can't exactly pack everyone inside Diagon Alley or platform nine and three-quarters."

Barry had a sudden idea. "Why didn't they just use Hogwarts? That's big enough, and certainly has enough wards to keep muggles away."

Mr. Weasley gave Barry a strange look. "You think Dumbledore would allow that?"

Barry blushed and Caitlin rolled her eyes.

"Anyway," Mr. Weasley continued, "the final solution was to just find a large deserted area far enough away from any muggles and set up as many precautions as necessary. I'm pretty sure the Ministry even had to enlist some of Gringotts' warding teams. That wasn't easy. Sorry, I'm getting a bit off-topic now. First, we've generally got to stagger the arrivals, so we aren't overwhelmed by everyone arriving at once. People with cheaper tickets are supposed to arrive two weeks beforehand. We get the occasional arrival my Muggle transportation methods, but we can't have too many of those, they'd clog up the buses and trains. That would attract too much attention. Also, remember that wizards are coming in from all over the world. Some of them apparate, obviously, but we have to set up safe points for them to pop into - can't have someone apparating to where someone's got a tent set up. For those who won't - or can't - apparate, we have Portkeys. They're objects enchanted to transport wizards from one place to another, usually at a set time. This way, we can even transport large groups at once. The Department of Magical Transportation had two hundred of them set up at strategic locations, spread across Britain. The nearest one is just up ahead at Stoatshead Hill, so that's where we're going."

Barry was dumbfounded at the level of thought that was put into these events. After an examination of the laws and regulations put into place by the ICW and Ministry, one would think that wizards were usually fairly stupid and close-minded. This, however, put things into perspective. He and Caitlin had considered moving away after graduation. Maybe it was time to reconsider that.

As they continued to walk, Barry had to surreptitiously vibrate himself to keep warm. Caitlin, of course, was in her element. Everyone continued to shoot her suspicious glances as she remained completely comfortable-looking.

A few minutes later, Ron caught up to them. "I envy you," he whispered to Caitlin, who just chuckled.

They didn't talk for the rest of the walk to Stoatshead.

Mr. Weasley sighed in relief as they arrived at their destination. "Well, we've arrived a bit early. I'd imagine we've got close to five minutes left," he commented.

Ginny came up over the crest of the hill after everyone else, clutching a stitch in her side. "How the bloody hell are you two not tired?" she complained to Barry and Caitlin while everyone else made vague sounds of agreement.

Barry shrugged. "I've been working out," he said. Caitlin quickly used the same excuse.

Ginny looked them over. "It shows," she said with a blush, still slightly out of breath.

"Anyway," Mr. Weasley said, drawing everyone else's attention, "we just need to find the Portkey now. It should be around here somewhere…"

After a few minutes of fruitless searching, Barry was just about to flash around and search for it, afraid that they would miss their Portkey, but a call quickly quashed his worries.

"Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it!"

"Amos!" Mr. Weasley called with a bright smile as he began to stride towards two tall figures a short way away. Everyone else quickly abandoned their own searches and followed.

"Everyone, this is Amos Diggory. He's part of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Here is his son, Cedric. I think you know him?"

Everyone nodded. Cedric was a well-known student at Hogwarts, being the Captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team.

"Hi," Cedric said, looking around at the group in front of him.

Everyone responded similarly, except for Fred and George, who were still disappointed that they had lost their game last year against Hufflepuff. Instead, they nodded.

Mr. Diggory looked like he was about to say something, but Mr. Weasley cut him off. "Merlin's beard! It's nearly time! Come, now, everyone. Amos, do you know if we're waiting for anyone else?"

Mr. Diggory shook his head. "No, no. The Lovegoods have been down there for a week already, and the Fawcetts weren't able to get tickets. We should be fine… Unless I'm forgetting anyone?"

Mr. Weasley shook his head. "No, that sounds about right. Anyway, gather round and get ready. Just a finger will do."

Barry and Caitlin looked dubiously at the tattered old boot held out by Mr. Diggory but touched it anyway.

"It's just about ti-" Mr. Weasley was cut off as the Portkey activated.

Barry was instantly uncomfortable with the travel. One would think, that as a speedster, it would be slightly more manageable, as he was used to extremely high speeds, but it was not. He felt like he was wrenched forward by his navel. It wasn't a particularly comfortable experience. He could feel his shoulders bang against Ron and Caitlin's. His finger was stuck to the boot, and his feet had left the ground.

Just as suddenly, they all slammed into the ground as they reached their destination. Barry was only capable of keeping his balance because of his enhanced reflexes. Looking around, he noticed that everyone else was on the ground apart from Mr. Weasley, Mr. Diggory, Cedric, and Caitlin, who had likely also stayed upright due to her enhanced reflexes.

"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill," a voice said.

Barry had to refrain from laughing at the absurdity of the outfits that the two wizards in front of him were wearing.

One was in a kilt and poncho, while the other was in a tweed suit with thigh-length galoshes.

He could hear Caitlin similarly struggling to hold in her laughter.

"Morning, Basil," Mr. Weasley said brightly to the kilted wizard as he picked up the boot and tossed it to him. Basil took the boot and tossed it to the side, into a box of used Portkeys.

"Hello there, Arthur," Basil said wearily. "Not on duty, eh? We've been here all night… You'd better get out of the way, we've got a big party coming in from the Black Forest at five-fifteen. Hang on, I'll find your campsite… Weasley… Weasley… About a quarter of a mile's walk over there, first field you come to." Fred and George groaned. "Site manager's called Mr. Roberts. Diggory… second field… ask for Mr. Payne."

"All right, thanks, Basil," Mr. Weasley said.

They walked for a while, not really seeing anything for the next five or so minutes. Eventually, though, they saw a small stone cottage next to a gate. Peering past it, Barry could distantly make out the shapes of hundreds and hundreds of tents, varying in shape, size, and color. They said goodbye to the Diggorys and made their way up to the cottage door.

There was a man standing in the doorway.

From just one glance, Barry was certain that this was the only Muggle for quite a distance, after all, he did look rather normal, not wearing anything exotic or odd.

"Morning!" Mr. Weasley said as the man turned towards them.

"Morning," he replied with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm.

"You'd be Mr. Roberts, correct?"

"Aye, I would," Mr. Roberts replied. "And who might you be?"

"Weasley - two tents, booked a couple of days ago?"

Barry and Caitlin exchanged a disappointed look. It seemed that they wouldn't be able to try out their new tent. Well, at least it would avoid any awkward questions, such as, why two teenagers of opposite genders would need to sleep in a separate tent.

"Right. You've got a space just up there, by the woods. Just the one night?"

"Sounds about right," Mr. Weasley replied.

"You'll be paying now, then?"

Mr. Weasley fidgeted.

Noticing his discomfort, Barry pulled him away briefly. Caitlin shot him a smile. "Sorry to ask, Mr. Weasley, but do you need help?"

Mr. Weasley gave him a _very_ relieved look. "Ah, yes. Thank you, Harry. You see… I've got no idea which of these is which." He pulled out several British pounds and showed them to Barry. "Could you help me? I need to pay this amount… right here." He showed him a number.

"Yeah, alright," Barry said. "You'll want one of these, one of those, two of those there, and another three of that, and one of the coins there. Got it?"

"Great," Mr. Weasley said with a smile. "Thank you so much, Harry. Here you go, Mr. Roberts."

The man smiled indulgently as he took the money. "Right, right. You can go on ahead. You already know where the area is."

As they went through, Barry heard a _pop!_ and an " _Obliviate!_ " and turned around to see Mr. Roberts with a glazed look on his face. He shook his head, disturbed by the casual alteration of the man's memories.

As they walked through the grounds, Barry and Caitlin huddled together, pointing out the funniest tents to each other. They saw several mostly normal-looking tents, only odd due to the occasional chimney or weather vane. Every once in awhile, though, they saw some tents so extravagant that they were quite obviously of the wizarding variety.

For example, there was a tent that had several _peacocks_ tied to the front. _Peacocks!_ Another one had three floors and a variety of turrets. Another one following that didn't look much like a tent at all. It looked like a chess piece, namely a rook. It was oddly wide, however.

Eventually, they reached the campsite, which was marked by a sign that said WEEZLY.

"What a nice spot!" Mr. Weasley enthused. "Right, strictly speaking, there's no magic allowed, considering that it's Muggle land… Anyway, let's get everything set up. Where should we start?"

* * *

**Malfoy Tent, Quidditch World Cup, England**

**August 19th, 2008**

Several men put on their masks and changed into their black robes.

A teenager rubbed his ring with a maniac glint in his eye.

Shooting to his feet, he thrust his arm forward and sped into his suit with an explosion of red lightning.

All of the men stopped and stared.

" **It's almost time,"** he said.

* * *

**Weasley Tent, Quidditch World Cup, England**

**August 19th, 2008**

Barry couldn't sleep.

The match had been great, really interesting. Krum had gotten the snitch, but Ireland had still won. It was very close though. If only…

His thoughts trailed off and he instead focused on another event that occurred just before that. There was a very… _strange_ encounter with Draco Malfoy. Yes… strange was the best way to describe it.

His insults were more cutting but subtler. He wasn't quite as swaggering anymore. It was quite strange. As much as it pained Barry to admit it, even to himself, that if it wasn't for the insults, he would almost be tolerable company.

He wouldn't ever trust him, though. He had learned that lesson too many times. Jay, Thawne…

There was _yet another_ strange thing that happened. The Veela mascots. While Ron had looked prepared to jump out of the box, Barry had simply felt a slight tingle in the back of his mind. They _were_ supposed to affect males, right?

Ginny had even accused him of being gay.

Caitlin had a good laugh at that.

Something felt off, though. Something important was about to happen, he knew it, and people would get hurt. He swung his legs over the side of his bed and slowly stood.

He stretched languidly, savoring the cracking noises that his back made.

Quite suddenly, he was startled by Mr. Weasley's shouting.

"Get up! Harry - Ron - come on now, get up, this is urgent!"

Ron fell off his bed with an _oomph!_

Barry could hear the sound of screams and running.

_Shit, if I wasn't so immersed in my thoughts, maybe I would have heard earlier and could've helped._

"What's wrong?" Ron asked groggily.

"No time, Ron, just grab a jacket and get outside - quickly!"

As soon as Mr. Weasley had left, Barry quickly packed everything and dressed Ron and himself.

"Wha-"

"Ron, there's something dangerous going on outside, you need to wake up _now_."

A flash of blue lightning signified Caitlin's arrival.

"Barry!" she gasped. "We have a problem!"

"What?" Barry responded quickly, unnerved by her fear.

"Thawne - he's not gone… He's somehow out there with the Death Eaters."

Barry let out a long string of colorful expletives.

"Go back to Ginny, Caitlin, as soon as I can get away from Mr. Weasley, I'll help, but it's not a good idea to reveal our identities this soon."

Caitlin swallowed nervously, but complied, leaving in a flash.

" _NOW,_ Ron!" Barry ordered, noting that Ron was moving to sit down again, looking pretty tired.

They rushed out of the tent.

As they rushed to catch up to Mr. Weasley, Barry looked around. There was a tightly packed group of wizards with masks and dark cloaks. Their wands were pointing up at four floating shapes that contorted into different positions.

As they continued to walk, Barry could see more and more wizards joining the group.

Further away, red lightning flashed around various tents, tossing bodies in the air and lighting tents on fire.

Barry clenched his fists. _Thawne_.

As the group passed a burning tent, the floating shapes were illuminated, and Barry was horrified to see that they were all people, one of whom was Mr. Roberts.

Ginny and Caitlin came running out of their tent, Mr. Weasley right behind them.

"We're going to help the Ministry," he said, gesturing to Bill, Charlie, and Percy, who had just come out fully dressed, wands in hand. "You lot, get to the woods, and _stay safe!_ "

Fred and George started to usher Ginny and Ron towards the trees, gesturing for Barry and Caitlin to follow.

After exchanging a glance, Barry and Caitlin flashed into their suits but left their masks down.

"Fred, George!" Barry called, "We're going to help, keep Ron and Ginny away from all of this?"

The twins' eyes widened as they saw Barry and Caitlin fully suited up, clearly recognizing what Barry was wearing.

Not waiting for a response, they pulled their masks on, Barry let lightning arc of his body, and then he was gone, Caitlin right on his heels.

They wove in between fleeing campers and quickly met the large crowd of violent wizards.

" **Stop,"** Barry called. The wizards simply laughed and shot several spells at him.

Shrugging, he shot forward and disabled the entire crowd in a matter of seconds with Caitlin's help.

The previously floating Muggles fell to the ground, landing noisily. " **Check them, please? You're the doctor here."**

Caitlin nodded and begun examining them, occasionally shooting icicles at wizards that attempted to attack her.

Barry sped off, looking for Thawne. On his way, he managed to pull multiple people out of burning tents.

After he spent around five minutes searching, Caitlin caught up to him.

" **Mr. Roberts will be alright, and so will Mrs. Roberts. Unfortunately, one of the kids is dead, and the other is paralyzed."**

Barry shook his head, deeply saddened by this revelation.

Suddenly, a flash of red lightning flew past them.

" **Shit!"** Barry swore before shooting after it.

Thawne was slightly ahead, jumping over tents and snapping the necks of the people he came across.

Barry was just behind, and speeding up, desperate to catch the murderer of his family.

Thawne stopped when he noticed Barry, obviously shocked. " **You should be gone, erased from existence, Flash! No matter. I'll kill you anyway."**

Thawne rushed forward, and time slowed down. He swung a punch at Barry, who dodged but was then knocked to the ground by the follow-up. Barry, for once, was scared. Thawne seemed _much_ faster than the last time he'd seen him.

Barry got to his feet and looked at Thawne, who was smirking.

His only thought before he charged him was: _He looks short_.

Barry got in a few good punches before Thawne once again overpowered Barry, knocking him back into one of the few nearby tents that hadn't been burnt down.

Just a few seconds later, Barry came running out of the entrance and knocked Thawne to the ground.

Thawne just laughed and kicked Barry off, leaving him on the ground a few feet away.

Thawne got to his feet before bending over and grabbing the front of Barry's suit and hoisting him into the air. He vibrated his hand, about to finally kill Barry, but was suddenly knocked back by a beam of cold.

It was Caitlin. " **You've taken so much from us, Eobard, but** _ **NOT BARRY!**_ " she screamed.

Barry scrambled to his feet and they both charged Thawne, blue and yellow lightning trailing behind them.

Thawne bolted towards the forest, clearly thrown by the appearance of the second speedster. He hadn't even expected Barry, much less another.

Red lightning streaked into the forest, followed closely by yellow and blue. Caitlin's hair was whiter than Barry had ever seen it, and it was blowing as they ran.

" **NO!"** Barry yelled, noticing that Thawne was running towards the four younger Weasleys.

Barry pushed himself harder than ever before and tackled Thawne just as he was about to attack Fred.

The group of four was very surprised by the appearance of the three speedsters.

"What the bloody fuck is going on?" Fred screamed.

" **Shut your gob, Fred!"** Caitlin yelled.

Barry hit Thawne in the face with multiple Speed Force enhanced punches. He seemed momentarily unconscious.

Barry got up with a sigh and brushed off a few leaves that got stuck on his suit.

That was all it took.

Thawne was on his feet and his eyes glowed brighter than normal. " **You'll never beat me, Barry. It doesn't matter how fast you are, I'll always be** _ **one step ahead**_ **. Enjoy life while you can… Flash."** Barry lunged but he disapparated with a _pop!_

Barry flashed out of his suit, clearly having forgotten that they were in the open.

"DAMN IT!" he screamed.

Sighing in resignation, Caitlin also flashed out of her suit, and her features returned to normal.

"You two owe us a bloody big explanation," George said.

Barry nodded resignedly.

In the distance, a cry of " _Morsmorde!_ " preceded something large and green flying into the sky.

Barry gasped. _Shit… that's the Dark Mark!_

It was a massive skull, and it had a snake coming out of its mouth - sort of like a tongue.

Suddenly, the woods around them erupted with screams.

Barry knew exactly why. Even thirteen or so years after Voldemort was 'gone,' people were still afraid to say his name, and not even his real name, but his pseudonym. His mark in the sky was alike to a promise of death to most of these people.

He looked around. Caitlin looked troubled, Fred and George were deathly pale, and Ginny had fallen to her knees, shivering and clutching one of Ron's legs. Ron dropped his wand, staring unbelievingly at the omen painted in the sky.

"This is… really bad," Barry said, voicing everyone's thoughts.

* * *

**Malfoy Tent, Quidditch World Cup, England**

**August 19th, 2008**

Thawne phased out of his suit, visibly angry.

"How the hell is Allen alive? He should have been overwritten." He froze for a second. Who threw that ice? Barry couldn't do that.

Wait.

Killer Frost.

But… that wasn't possible, was it?

Caitlin Snow wasn't a speedster, was she?

As the pieces fell into place, Thawne felt some grudging respect towards Barry. "Ah, Barry Allen, you clever bastard, sharing your speed. I'll enjoy killing you. Too bad I don't know who you are quite yet."

* * *

_Do you know why we'll never stop fighting, Flash? I'm the reverse of everything you stand for…_


	5. Consequences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of this chapter was taken verbatim from both "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J. K. Rowling" and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J. K. Rowling."

**Previously on** _**After the New Dawn** _ **:**

" _You two owe us a bloody big explanation," George said._

_Barry nodded resignedly._

_In the distance, a cry of "_ _ **Morsmorde!**_ " _preceded something large and green flying into the sky._

…

_As the pieces fell into place, Thawne felt some grudging respect towards Barry. "Ah, Barry Allen, you clever bastard, sharing your speed. I'll enjoy killing you. Too bad I don't know who you are quite yet."_

* * *

**Chapter 5 - Consequences**

**The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, After the New Dawn**

**August 19th, 2008**

The weary group rounded the corner and the Burrow came into view.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Mrs. Weasley called, running down the street towards them. She was still wearing her bedroom slippers having obviously woken up fairly recently. Her face was pale, and she was holding a rolled-up copy of the _Daily Prophet_ in her hand.

As she flung herself at Mr. Weasley, the newspaper fell to the ground.

Barry sucked in a breath when he picked it up and looked at the front page.

_**SPEEDSTERS STOP RIOT AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP** _

_By: Rita Skeeter_

_Late last night, multiple unidentified wizards attacked the campgrounds of the  
Quidditch World Cup. Afterward, it was discovered that nearly 200 died in the  
riot, but it was stopped before it could get worse, by no less than two people  
that looked like they were made of lightning. They were incredibly fast, and  
streams of lightning illuminated their paths. One was blue, the other yellow.  
It is clear, however, that these two were on our side. The two of them together  
took out the entire mob in just a few seconds. This reporter even witnessed the  
blue _ _"speedster" (name credit goes to Lucius Malfoy)_ _helping three injured people._

_According to eyewitness accounts, the yellow speedster is known as "Flash" or "Barry".  
This reporter was not close enough to get a good look, but the Flash's features  
_ _include black hair, and he is also rather tall._

_No name for the blue speedster was provided, but some physical features were noted.  
_ _She can be characterized as having two distinct hair colors, one of which was a snowy  
white, while the other was a frizzy brown. She was also rather tall, but still a few inches  
shorter than the Flash._

_However, there does seem to be a flipside to our new heroes. Apart from the blue and  
yellow speedsters, there was a red speedster as well, but he seemed to be in opposition  
of our heroes. He was seen fighting them before disapparating._

_According to eyewitness accounts, the red speedster is known as "Eobard". As he never  
removed his mask or suit, no physical description can be provided._

_The wizarding community is reeling from this new discovery, and can only wonder how  
many of these speedsters are out there._

_This reporter wonders, however, if the heroes we gained last night would have even  
needed to act if only the Ministry had tighter security. After all, the culprits were never  
apprehended, having escaped before they could have been taken into custody…_

Barry tossed the paper to Caitlin, visibly disturbed.

They had been extremely careless last night, and their identities had almost been outed, not to mention that Lucius Malfoy somehow knew what speedsters were.

Maybe Eobard was posing as him?

Whoever he was, Eobard's simple existence was certainly unnerving to them. He should have been dead… unless…

Damn, another time remnant.

But… why wasn't he erased…?

Shit, the Negative Speed Force. That would explain his increased speed, at least.

Barry shook his head, clearing away his thoughts.

Caitlin tossed the newspaper back to where Barry picked it up from.

In a surprising move, Mrs. Weasley pulled Fred and George into a rib-crushing hug.

" _Ouch!_ Mum, you're strangling us!"

"I shouted at you before you left," she wailed, "It's all I've been thinking about! What if You-Know-Who had gotten you, and the last thing I said to you was how you didn't get enough O.W.L.s!"

"Oh, come on, now, Molly. We're all fine, fine and whole," Mr. Weasley consoled, leading her back towards the house.

"Bill," Percy whispered, "Grab that paper. I reckon Dad will want to hear what it says."

The large group crammed themselves into the kitchen, and Bill handed Mr. Weasley the paper, who began to read it out loud.

Throughout the entirety of the retelling, Fred and George were shooting Barry and Caitlin not-so-subtle glances.

Unfortunately, while Barry had hoped that no one would notice, it seemed that Mrs. Weasley had picked up on these glances.

"What is it?" she asked after Mr. Weasley had finished reading out loud.

Fred shifted uncomfortably and George opened his mouth but was cut off by a sharp "George!" from Caitlin.

However, Mrs. Weasley would not be deterred. "What is it?" she snapped.

The twins looked incredibly uncomfortable, and the room was stiff with tension. All three: Barry, Caitlin, and Mrs. Weasley were all glaring at them.

Eventually, the twins decided to be loyal to their friends. "We're sorry, Mum, but it's not ours to tell."

Mrs. Weasley turned an angry red. "Grounded! Until you come to your senses, you'll be staying in your room, and no experimenting!"

The twins deflated, looking very downcast, and Barry and Caitlin immediately felt bad.

"Mrs. Weasley!" Barry said sharply.

Her head whipped around incredibly quickly.

"It's our secret, and by no fault of your own, we'd rather keep it to ourselves. Fred and George found out completely by accident, and they're really just covering for us," Caitlin elaborated.

Mrs. Weasley quickly looked very guilty. "I'm sorry, Fred, George, I've gone and done it again, you're not grounded anymore. You were just being good friends. Don't worry, Harry, Hermione, I won't pry."

Barry let out a relieved sigh.

Caitlin spoke up with a slight expression of chagrin. "Um… sorry, Mrs. Weasley, but we need to talk to Ron, Ginny, and the twins before we leave. Is that alright?"

Mrs. Weasley looked sad. "Hermione's leaving too?"

"I'm sorry," Caitlin said, sounding sincerely apologetic, "It's just that I don't get all that much time to spend with my parents, being at Hogwarts and all, and I'd really like to stay with them."

Mrs. Weasley nodded, surreptitiously flicking her wand in Ron's direction, a gesture that only Mr. Weasley noticed. "That is totally fine. I'm sorry I'd never thought about that before. Now, go ahead, go talk with them."

Barry and Caitlin led the smaller group out into the garden, unaware that Ron now had a listening charm on his back.

As soon as they got out of the natural hearing distance of the adults, Fred exploded. "What the bloody hell was that, at the World Cup?"

Barry sighed. "We really didn't want to tell you guys this… mostly because we're unsure of whether you'll believe us, but also because it could be unsafe for you. We already told Ron because he'd notice anyway, whether we told him or not."

"Anyway," Caitlin interjected seamlessly, "have you heard of the theory of the multiverse?"

They all shook their heads.

"Damn," Barry muttered, "this was so much easier to explain to Kara and Winn."

"What?"

"Irrelevant," Barry said as he drew his wand, drawing several circles in the air. "Imagine that all of these circles represent Earth. These are all different variations of Earth that all occupy the same place in space, but vibrate at different frequencies, so they can't see one another. However, if you could move fast enough, you could, for lack of a better explanation, puncture the dimensional barrier and travel to one of these alternate Earths, though you'd have to be vibrating at the frequency associated with the Earth you wanted to travel to. For example, one of the Earths, Earth-38, hosted one of my best friends. Her name was Kara Danvers, also known as Kara Zor-El."

"Wait, what do you mean 'hosted'? Is she dead? Also, isn't Kara Zor-El that comic book character called Supergirl?" George asked.

Barry sighed. "She doesn't exist anymore," he said bluntly, and Fred and George looked completely dumbfounded.

"How did that happen?" they asked.

Barry looked a bit uncomfortable. "Well, the Speed Force _really_ hates it when speedsters mess with time, and occasionally time itself has a way of pushing back. When my archrival, the Reverse-Flash killed my friends Wally, Cisco, Iris, and my adoptive father, Joe, the timeline pushed back _big-time_. Oh, he also happened to kill Oliver Queen and his team as well. You see, all of them were rather important people to the timeline, each was destined to do great things, so when their threads were cut, the backlash was immense. If that wasn't bad enough, Caitlin and I killed Reverse-Flash soon after, which was even worse, considering that he was supposed to go back to his future eventually. Anyway, the whole effect of the thing was that the Speed Force decided that the timeline was too broken, and decided to have a total reboot."

Seeing Barry pause, Caitlin picked up where he left off. "Barry felt it pretty quickly. He sped over to my apartment, and we tried to figure out ways to prevent it." She took a deep breath. "We came up with nothing. So, Barry decided that if he couldn't save the world, he'd prolong our existence. He gave me some of his speed. Now, I'm a speedster too. Anyway, close to the time where the multiverse would reset, I had an epiphany. We figured out how to imbue objects with our speed and memories, and threw them into the Negative Speed Force, the only place immune to timeline changes. This happened on August eleventh, 2017. On August eleventh, 2008, the Negative Speed Force opened in a park in Little Whinging, Surrey. Out came our objects, and it was lucky that Harry Potter took Barry's item, or I would be in Harry's body instead. That would be strange. Anyway, after Harry became partially Barry, he sped off to my house and gave me my, er, Caitlin's necklace, and I became part-Caitlin, part-Hermione."

Barry cut in. "That's why I _really_ ran away this summer, not because the Dursleys were unbearable, simply because I'm literally an adult in a child's body, and I really don't need to be micromanaged. There's also the little tidbit that Caitlin and I are engaged, so I couldn't exactly leave her behind, not that she'd really want to stay behind anyway. So, all in all, my name is Barry Allen, also known as the Flash. She is Caitlin Snow, alias Frost. We're both speedsters, two of the remnants of the previous multiverse. Also, before you ask, this isn't a total takeover or possession, we've merged with Harry and Hermione, meaning that we _share_ the body."

Ginny looked overwhelmed, but she had one question. "Just one thing, guys, who is Eobard, the red speedster?"

Barry's expression darkened. "He killed my mother, a team we were allied with, my three best friends, and my adoptive father. He is the Reverse-Flash. Born in the distant future, I was a legend to him. He grew up, obsessed with the Flash, and eventually replicated the accident that gave me my powers. He eventually grew to hate me, learning that it was our destiny to be mortal enemies. He traveled back in time to kill me but killed my mother instead. Then, he impersonated Harrison Wells for fifteen years, creating a particle accelerator that exploded and gave me my powers. Then, he gained my trust, training me to use my speed. His true goal, however, was to use me to get back home. Eventually, my friend, Eddie Thawne, who was also Eobard's ancestor, killed himself, erasing Eobard from the timeline. However, Eobard kept coming back, different time remnants showing up from time to time. It was his latest time remnant that killed my friends. It was probably another time remnant that jumped into the Negative Speed Force to save himself, which would explain his increased speed."

"It would?" Ron asked, not having heard this part before.

"Yeah," Barry said, rubbing his eyes. "The Negative Speed Force is the total opposite of the Speed Force in every way. In order to use his speed now, he has to channel his rage, fear, and envy. It's changed him, making him more of a monster, but also faster. In our research, we discovered that the purer the Speed Force user is that accesses the Negative variant, the further they'll fall, the less rational they'll become. Unfortunately, Eobard wasn't particularly pure, meaning that he's still pretty smart and rational. He was originally a genius. Maybe he isn't a genius anymore, but his new speed offsets that, possibly making him even more dangerous than before."

Fred looked puzzled. "Why couldn't you, I dunno, just kill him in his sleep or something?"

Caitlin's shoulders sagged. "We have no clue who he is. Last time he posed as Harrison Wells for fifteen years. He's incredibly good at blending in. He could be literally anyone! Hell, he could be one of you, but I find that unlikely. He'd have killed Barry by now."

George looked confused again. "Hold on a second, why are you guys in comic books?"

Barry shrugged helplessly. "That is one question I can't answer. Maybe it's the new timeline's way of honoring us, I guess."

Fred blew out a breath. "Alright… that explanation was actually much more in-depth than I expected."

"Certainly explains the behavioral changes," George added.

"And the growth spurt," Fred continued.

"I just thought that was puberty!" Ron interjected

"Hey!" Barry protested.

Just like that, the serious mood was broken, and the group of six made their way back to the house, enjoying some friendly banter.

When they walked into the kitchen, the adults looked very unnerved and uncomfortable.

Barry looked at them closely. "You listened in, didn't you?" he asked sharply.

Percy fidgeted.

"Unbelievable," Ron muttered.

Barry sighed, shaking his head. "If any of this gets out to _anyone_ , there will be hell to pay, got it?"

The adults all nodded quickly. They were painfully aware that Barry could kill them before they knew what was happening.

"Harry?" Mrs. Weasley said softly.

"Yes?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

"Where will you be staying?"

"None of your business," he said shortly.

She looked taken aback.

He looked at each of them in turn. "I don't want Dumbledore hearing about this either, got it?"

They nodded with some reluctance.

"Caitlin," Barry prompted. She shook herself out of her dazed state.

"Sorry, Barry. I've got everything if that's what you're asking."

Barry smiled slightly. "Alright, great."

He turned towards the Weasleys. "We'll be seeing you on September first."

With a crackle of lightning, he was gone. Caitlin disappeared soon after.

As soon as they were gone, the room exploded into argument, the adults attempting to defend themselves while the teenagers yelled in outrage.

* * *

**Godric's Hollow, England**

**August 22nd, 2008**

The man perched across the street looked through his binoculars into the window of the cottage, watching with awe as two teenagers who lived by themselves sped around a room, trailing lightning.

This was _not_ what he expected when he was sent out to determine the source of the strange energy readings that had been recorded all across Britain over the past week or two.

Fury would want to know about this.

* * *

**Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow**

**August 29th, 2008**

Barry dug through his old trunk, looking for the box. He'd totally forgotten about Kara's bracelet. He'd have to find someone to give it to soon. Maybe they could find someone in Hogwarts who deserved it.

The problem was, though, that they didn't really know anyone who was very much like Kara. Kara was just so abnormally _good_. A mix with anyone would just taint her utterly incorruptible personality.

There it was.

He pulled out the box and flipped open the latch.

Inside, the bracelet was collecting dust.

He conjured a Ziploc bag and carefully levitated the bracelet into it, taking great care to ensure he didn't touch the stone.

He zipped it shut and levitated the bag into his new school trunk.

He'd bought a new trunk recently, noting the rather worn and beaten condition of the old one.

Inside was all his school books and tools, a bunch of clothes (he had started packing a little while earlier), and now, the bracelet. There was a ton of stuff he needed to pack, and he didn't know where half of it was.

For example, he'd completely forgotten about the Marauder's Map until just yesterday and then found it underneath the couch cushions in the living room.

Caitlin had given him hell for that one, and he couldn't even remember using it there.

He was half-convinced that she planted it there so she could have fun tormenting him later.

He stood up and stretched.

Wait.

Shit, where was his wand?

He flashed throughout the house, looking everywhere he could think of.

_Fuck._

"Barry!" came an irritated voice.

_Double fuck._

"Yes, Caitlin?" he said, entering the living room and sitting next to her on the couch.

"Why are you flashing all over the house?"

"Uhh… looking for my wand?"

"Uh-huh."

"What?"

"I'd wondered how long it would take you to notice."

"What?" he sputtered, "You took my wand?"

"No," she said with a smirk, "You left it in your sock drawer again."

Barry groaned. "Again?"

"Yes, you really are disorganized."

"I… Yeah. I can't really contest that, it's completely true."

She looked like she was about to say something else, but an owl swooped in through the open window, delivering the day's _Daily Prophet_.

Caitlin sped away to grab some money, and returned quickly, snatching the paper and giving the owl its dues.

She let out a sigh as she plopped down on the couch again, putting her feet on Barry's lap.

Barry leaned his head back against the back of the couch and listened to the rustling of paper as she read the day's news.

A few minutes later, Barry was startled by her tone. "Barry," she said, sounding slightly somber.

He looked towards her just in time to catch the newspaper flying towards his head.

He opened it and drew in a breath as he saw the writing.

_**MORE WIZARDS DIE - IS THIS THE WORK OF "EOBARD"?** _

_By: Edmund Caro_

_Yesterday afternoon, ten more wizards were found dead in their homes. All  
witnesses agree that the only sign of the perpetrator was the tell-tale flash of  
red lightning, which has recently become associated with the notorious murderer  
only known as Eobard._

_A statement from the Auror Department was provided by Senior Auror Kingsley  
Shacklebolt, who said the following: "We will do our best to catch this new and  
unknown enemy. Unfortunately, this is a very new kind of criminal, and not  
much is known about his abilities."_

_We can only hope that the Flash or his currently unnamed associate will come  
forward to provide any information on the infamous criminal._

_The Flash has not been witnessed since the Quidditch World Cup, but his enemy  
is certainly still quite active…_

Barry closed his eyes, wishing the article away.

"We aren't doing them any favors," Caitlin pointed out quietly.

Barry sighed before opening his eyes back up and looking at Caitlin. "Time to end our vacation?"

This time, Caitlin was the one to sigh. "We can't go back now and abandon them again two days from now. We have Hogwarts. Until we graduate, we can't really defend this place."

"There was to be _something_ we can do," Barry said hopefully.

"I… Yes, I think we should go and provide information about Thawne."

Barry looked momentarily thoughtful. "Sure… that makes sense. Of course, it won't exactly help them catch him, but it will help them understand."

Caitlin frowned. "...Right. Anyway, I'm just hoping that whoever Eobard has taken over is either a professor or a student at Hogwarts."

Barry raised an eyebrow, deciding not to pass judgment _quite_ yet, knowing that she thought through almost everything she said.

She huffed, seeing his expression. "You don't think it would be easier to protect people if he was nearby?"

Barry looked thoughtful. "I mean… yeah, definitely, but… that would mean exposing schoolchildren to the Reverse-Flash."

Caitlin shrugged. "Anyone he comes into contact with is in danger. We'd just be in a better position to protect them at Hogwarts."

Barry nodded. "Right, then. When should we go to the Ministry?"

She gave him a disappointed look as she pulled her legs off of his lap and sat upright. "Why wouldn't we go now? We just decided that we're going to do it, why would we put it off?"

"Okay, there's just one minor problem."

"What?"

"I'm not exactly sure where the Ministry is."

Caitlin laughed. "I'm not exactly surprised. We haven't had a reason to go before now. This will be the first time for me too."

Barry awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "So… how are we getting there?"

Caitlin smiled mysteriously before disappearing in a flash of blue lightning.

A second later she was back and speed-reading a book that Barry recognized as one she had recently bought, titled _The British Ministry of Magic_.

A few seconds after that, she tossed the now-finished book onto the couch and pulled out another book that Barry hadn't noticed her holding, titled _The British Auror Department_. She flipped through the pages in a blur, her eyes moving too fast to be tracked visually, making the whites of her eyes appear almost wholly brown.

After she finished, which only took another two seconds before she tossed the book down next to the book on the Ministry and flashed into her suit.

"Ready, Barry?" she asked before sticking on her mask.

Before she could blink, Barry was standing next to her, dressed in his suit. " **Always,"** he replied.

" **Great. Follow me."**

They raced down the streets away from their home, grinning like fools as they basked in the thrill of running at super speed. Occasionally, Barry's lightning would collide with Caitlin's, and the off-shooting lightning would be green.

A minute or so later, Caitlin stopped abruptly in front of a red telephone booth. She stepped inside, gesturing for Barry to follow.

When he gave her a confused look, she simply grinned back. He stepped inside and watched as she seemed to think for a second before picking up the receiver and dialing a series of numbers; _62442_.

The dial moved smoothly back into place and a cool female voice sounded, echoing through the box, but not from the receiver, almost as if the woman was standing right next to them. "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

Even Caitlin looked a bit unnerved.

Barry cleared his throat nervously. " **Flash and Frost, here to provide information about a fugitive."**

"Thank you," the voice said, "Visitor, please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes."  
Barry and Caitlin exchanged an uneasy glance as a _click_ sounded.

Out of the shute where coins were usually returned, something slid out. It was two square silver badges that read _Flash, Informant_ and _Frost, Informant_.

The duo quickly snatched up the badges and pinned them right next to their emblems.

The voice sounded again. "Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."

" **Oops,"** Caitlin whispered. Barry gave her a questioning look. " **We don't have our wands."**

Barry shook his head. " **Don't forget that that's actually a good thing. Us having them could reveal our identities."**

" **Right. I didn't about it that way."**

The floor of the telephone box suddenly shuddered, and when they looked out the windows, they noticed that they were sinking into the ground. Barry gave Caitlin a wide-eyed look.

They both watched, one shocked, the other fascinated, as they descended slowly towards the center of the Earth. Eventually, the light disappeared and all that they could hear was a dull grinding noise.

Around a minute later, they reached their destination, and the voice sounded again, "The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day."

The doors of the telephone box sprung open and the duo's jaws dropped open at the sight that greeted them. They were at the end of a very long and splendid hall with a highly polished, dark wood floor. The peacock-blue ceiling was inlaid with gleaming golden symbols that were continually moving and changing like some enormous heavenly notice board. The walls on each side were paneled in shiny dark wood and had many gilded fireplaces set into them. Every few seconds a with or wizard would emerge from one of the left-hand fireplaces with a soft _whoosh_ ; on the right-hand side, shirt queues of wizards were forming before each fireplace, waiting to depart.

Halfway down the hall was a fountain. A group of golden statues, larger than life-size, stood in the middle of a circular pool. Tallest of them all was a noble-looking wizard with his wand pointing straight up in the air. Grouped around him were a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf. The last three were looking adoringly up at the witch and wizard. Glittering jets of water were flying from the ends of the two wands, the point of the centaur's arrow, the tip of the goblin's hat, and each of the house-elf's ears, so that the tinkling hiss of falling water was added to the pops and cracks of Apparators and the clatter of footsteps as hundreds of witches and wizards strode towards a set of golden gates at the far end of the hall.

Recovering from their awe, Barry gave the fountain a look of mild disgust and Caitlin mentally marked the fireplaces as a possible method of escape in case they were pursued.

Caitlin looked at Barry, smiled, and flashed off, darting through the crowd. People gasped as they saw Caitlin's blue lightning.

Barry scowled and followed with a trail of yellow lightning, trying his best to catch up to Caitlin without jostling anyone.

It was very difficult, and he ended up moving much slower than normal. It wasn't until they reached the security desk that Barry caught up to her.

As they approached, a badly shaven wizard in forest green robes looked up and dropped his copy of the _Daily Prophet_ , seeing their suits. He looked them up and down, his jaw agape.

"You're…" he trailed off, seemingly losing the capability of speech.

" **Flash and Frost,"** Barry supplied helpfully.

He nodded rapidly. "Oh. Well, step over here and I'll need to scan you for dark artifacts and such, and then I'll need to register your wand. Is that alright?"

Caitlin coughed. " **We don't have our wands with us today."**

The man frowned. "Alright… just step over here then."

Barry stepped over to where the man was pointing and allowed him to wave a long golden rod around his body. A few moments later, the man looked satisfied and stepped back, nodding at Barry before beckoning Caitlin forward and doing the same to her.

" **Good day, Eric,"** Barry said, eying the man's nametag.

He blushed and muttered something incomprehensible.

Caitlin rolled her eyes and the two made their way through the crowd, trying to ignore the gawking magicals who had certainly noticed them. They entered a smaller hall which contained twenty or so lifts behind golden gates.

One of the lifts opened with an odd chiming noise and the speedster duo stuffed themselves into the crowded contraption. The wizards inside seemed equally stunned at their presence.

As the lift started to ascend, the wizard next to Barry looked at him intently. "Hey, are you that Flash guy everyone's talking about?"

Barry nodded.

"Blimey," another said, "are you two going to provide info on that Eobard guy?"

"Strange name, that," another wizard muttered.

" **Yeah,"** Caitlin said.

Everyone aside from Barry and Caitlin flinched at the disguised voice. Barry couldn't blame them. It did was rather unsettling to anyone unused to it.

"How do you speak like that?" the first wizard said.

Before Barry or Caitlin could answer, the same cool voice they'd heard in the telephone booth rang out. "Level seven, Department of Magical Games and Sports, incorporating the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, Official Gobstones Club, and Ludicrous Patents Office."

"Damn," the same wizard muttered, "this is my stop."

The doors opened, and a few wizards left the lift, entering an untidy-looking corridor, with various posters of Quidditch teams tackled lopsidedly on the walls.

The doors shut again, and the lift started moving again. Another wizard Barry hadn't noticed took the place of the previous wizard and glanced warily at Barry.

He cleared his throat nervously. "How _do_ you make that voice? Just… it's really unsettling, and obviously not natural."

Barry frowned and looked at the wizard. Not seeing anything bad that could come from it, he decided to answer. " **We can vibrate our vocal cords."**

The man looked utterly baffled. "Vocal cords?"

Barry's eyebrows rose. " **You don't know what vocal cords are?"**

The man shook his head and Barry sighed.

The voice rang out again. "Level six, Department of Magical Transport, incorporating the Floo Network Authority, Broom Regulatory Control, Portkey Office, and Apparation Test Center."

The doors slid open again and a few more wizards got out, and a single witch entered. The doors quickly shut again, and they ascended in silence.

"Level five, Department of International Magical Cooperation, incorporating the International Magical Trading Standards Body, the International Magical Office of Law, and the International Confederation of Wizards, British Seats."

The doors wrenched open and no one got out, but instead, a few paper airplanes flew in, flapping idly around above their heads.

Barry stared at them, baffled.

One of them flew too low and clipped a wizard on the back of his head. "Ouch," he muttered, "damn Interdepartmental Memos."

Caitlin made a noise that vaguely resembled realization.

The doors shut again.

"Level four, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, incorporating Beast, Being, and Spirit Divisions, Goblin Liaison Office, and Pest Advisory Bureau."

Barry made a little horrified noise and Caitlin breathed out heavily as the doors opened.

One wizard left before the doors clanged shut.

"Level three, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, including the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, Obliviator Headquarters, and Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee."

The doors slid open and Barry snorted at 'Muggle-Worth Excuse Committee.'

The rest of the occupants of the lift left apart from Barry and Caitlin and a scruffy-looking wizard peering at a small piece of parchment through obscenely large glasses.

The doors clanged shut, and they ascended again.

"Level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services."

The doors slid open.

" **This is us,"** Barry muttered. Caitlin nodded nervously and they stepped out. The corridor was lined with doors, and as they walked through, Barry couldn't help but note the minimal space between each of them.

They turned a corner and Barry abruptly halted, and Caitlin, who was still looking around, walked right into him. Right next to the door which had a sign saying _Auror Headquarters_ , there was an old picture of Sirius from when he'd just gotten out of Azkaban, with text under it saying ' _UNDESIRABLE NUMBER ONE_.'

" **What is it?"** Caitlin asked warily while rubbing her forehead, which had knocked into Barry's back.

" **I didn't realize Sirius was** _ **that**_ **important to the DMLE,"** Barry said.

" **But… there was a manhunt for him last year,"** Caitlin pointed out.

Barry shrugged and quickly composed himself once more. " **We can't just walk into the Auror Department without fear of reprisal, so we need to speed through to Amelia Bones' Office - I've heard she's fair."**

Caitlin nodded and the two let the world slow down around them, entering Flashtime. Lightning danced around their bodies, and they quickly made their way to Madam Bones' office.

When they arrived, the woman looked shocked to see the two mysterious heroes arriving unannounced in her office.

She quickly regained her composure. "Who are you?" she asked, pointing at Caitlin.

" **Frost,"** she stated shortly.

"I'm assuming you have information for me?"

Barry exchanged a glance with Caitlin. " **Yes,"** he said. " **We can tell you about the Reverse-Flash."**

"Reverse-Flash?"

" **He's also known as Eobard Thawne or Harrison Wells, but he goes mainly by Reverse-Flash."**

"Tell me more," Amelia said, leaning forward with an interested gleam in her eye.

" **Born in the distant future, he was obsessed with me and my legacy. He managed to replicate the accident that gave me my speed and became just as fast. Originally he admired me but grew to hate me as he learned he was destined to be my worst enemy,** _ **the reverse of everything I stand for**_ **. We don't know who he's impersonating now, as he can take on someone's appearance non-magically, but he** _ **is**_ **very dangerous, and we'll do the best we can to help you catch him, as we want him captured ourselves…"**

* * *

_Sometimes, the best intentions have the worst consequences…_


	6. Super Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of this chapter was taken verbatim from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J. K. Rowling."

**Previously on** _**After the New Dawn** _ **:**

" _Tell me more," Amelia said, leaning forward with an interested gleam in her eye._

" _Born in the distant future, he was obsessed with me and my legacy. He managed to replicate the accident that gave me my speed and became just as fast. Originally he admired me but grew to hate me as he learned he was destined to be my worst enemy,_ _ **the reverse of everything I stand for.**_ _We don't know who he's impersonating now, as he can take on someone's appearance non-magically, but he is very dangerous, and we'll do the best we can to help you catch him, as we want him captured ourselves…"_

* * *

**Chapter 6 - Super Friend**

**King's Cross Station, After the New Dawn**

**September 1st, 2008**

The two superheroes in disguise pushed their trolleys through the crowds, heading towards platform nine and three-quarters.

"It'll be different, won't it?" Caitlin said.

"Yeah," Barry said, "but it's a good kind of different… I think. This year might actually be fun, as long as I don't get put in that stupid tournament."

Caitlin snorted. "You? Have a normal year?"

Barry scowled playfully. "I'll have you know that I'm perfectly capable of having a normal year."

Her eyebrows shot up. " _Really_ ," she drawled.

"Really!" Barry insisted, carefully passing through the barrier.

She shook her head as she emerged behind him. "I don't believe you. Nothing's ever normal with you, whether you're Barry or Harry."

Barry laughed. "Hey, that rhymed!"

"Yes," Caitlin said smugly, "I'm very proud of myself."

They approached the iconic Hogwarts Express, smiling fondly.

"Ready to go home?" she asked.

Barry frowned. "Don't say that, Hogwarts isn't really my home."

She gave him a curious glance. "Really?"

He shook his head. "It might've been home to Harry - he had to live with the Dursleys - but it's not home for me. My home is with you, in our cottage in Godric's Hollow."

She looked stunned.

He laughed at her expression. "Why are you so surprised? I love you. Of course the cottage that we live in _together_ is my home."

She shrugged. "I had a few doubts, I mean… it was only a few weeks after Iris died that we got together."

Barry's smile faded. "I had plenty of time to get over her. We've been together for over three years now, Cait. I love _you_ , and _only you_."

With that, they smiled at each other and got on the train, looking for a compartment. It wasn't close to eleven, so the Weasleys weren't there yet, but Barry was surprised that they weren't able to find anyone they were friends with. Neville wasn't there, neither was Colin or Dean.

Barry looked at Caitlin. "How early are we?"

She cast a quick _Tempus_. "It's 10:17. We're about forty-five minutes early."

"Wow, that's pretty early," he said.

"Couldn't you have figured that out yourself?" she asked accusingly.

Barry shrugged. "How about this compartment?" he asked.

Caitlin looked inside. There was only a small blond girl with large eyes reading a magazine upside down. "Sure," she conceded.

They pulled open the door and put up their trunks. "Hello," Barry said kindly.

The girl looked up and froze, her eyes growing even larger than they were normally.

" _You're the remnants!_ " she whispered reverently.

Barry froze. "What?"

"I never thought _I'd_ meet you, Barry Allen and Caitlin Snow! It's a pleasure to meet the remnants of the Speed Force."

"How did you-"

"I see things others don't," the girl explained, cutting Caitlin off.

" _Remnants_ of the Speed Force?" Barry asked incredulously.

Her eyes widened further. "You mean you don't _know?_ "

"Know _what?_ "

"The Speed Force only exists here because of _you_ , Barry Allen, and _you_ , Caitlin Snow."

"What does that mean?" Caitlin pressed.

"There will be no more speedsters outside of your descendants, in this universe or any other. Did you know that you were the only two Speed Force users to escape the rewrite? None of the others had developed strong enough connections to notice it before it was too late."

"But what about Thawne?" Barry asked, reeling from this new information.

The girl's eyes flashed ominously. "Eobard Thawne is _not_ a Speed Force user."

Barry nodded sadly. That meant she knew he was a-

"-Negative Speed Force user, yes," the girl said, reflecting his thoughts perfectly. "And no, he will not pass it on to his descendants. All Negative Speed Force users are sterile."

Barry sat back heavily, still reeling. Caitlin, however, wasn't done. "Who _are_ you?"

She smiled serenely. "My name is Luna Lovegood."

"Are you a Seer?" she pressed, "How do you know these things?"

"No," Luna said. "I am not a Seer. In fact, there isn't anyone else like me. I see the past, the present, and also other universes. People think that my father and I are crazy, but in actuality, my father is the only one who went a bit around the bend."

Caitlin plopped down next to Barry, feeling a little overwhelmed.

The door to their compartment opened, and Neville stepped through with his trunk. "Hey, guys! How was your summer?"

Luna smiled. "Enlightening."

Neville suddenly noticed how utterly overwhelmed Barry and Caitlin looked. "Harry, Hermione? Are you okay?"

Luna laughed happily while Barry gripped his head with his hands.

* * *

**Upper Atmosphere, Earth**

**September 1st, 2008**

The two Kryptonian vessels entered the upper atmosphere of Earth and prepared for a rough landing. The pods were built as escape devices and were not able to control their descent.

They soared towards Scotland, getting closer and closer to the ground every minute.

* * *

**Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**September 1st, 2008**

The doors to the hall swung open with a bang as McGonagall led in the first years to be sorted. They marched up to the side of the head table.

Barry and Caitlin watched, enraptured, as the Sorting Hat opened up its brim in a passable imitation of a mouth and began to sing.

Just a minute later, the hall exploded into applause. Soon, they quieted down again to wait for McGonagall to begin the sorting.

"Ackerly, Stuart!" McGonagall called out. The small boy climbed up onto the stool and McGonagall placed the hat on his head. The brim went down over the boy's ears.

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Baddock, Malcolm!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Branstone, Eleanor!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Cauldwell, Owen!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Creevey, Dennis!" A very small boy, wrapped in Hagrid's coat, started shuffling towards the hat. He was dripping water on the floor as he moved. His small face protruded from over the collar, looking almost painfully excited. He caught Colin Creevey's eye, gave a double thumbs-up, and mouthed, _I fell in the lake!_ He looked positively delighted about it. A few snickers could be heard from the crowd.

The hat was placed on his head, and it covered the top half of his face. His wide grin was still visible, though. After a full minute, the hat looked positively miffed.

"Gryffindor," the hat sighed. Dennis tried to race to his brother, forgetting he was still wearing the hat.

"Hey!" The hat exclaimed. "Where are you going with me?" The tiniest Creevey turned beet red and ran back up and placed the hat back on the stool.

"Sorry, Mr. Hat, I forgot," Dennis said contritely. The hat harrumphed. Dennis sprinted over to his brother and sat down, Hagrid's wet cloak making a squelching noise as it was sat on. McGonagall looked completely baffled at the turn of events. She sighed and shook her head.

Barry had to try very hard to muffle his snickers.

"Dobbs, Emma!"

The sorting continued on until "Wolpert, Nigel!" was sorted into "GRYFFINDOR!"

At the end of the sorting, Dumbledore stood and clapped, allowing a large assortment of food to pop up all over the hall. Quite a few gasps came from the new first years.

After most had finished eating, Dumbledore clinked his spoon against his glass. He stood, and the hall quieted quickly. Once he had the hall's attention, he began the start of term announcements.

Dumbledore smiled. "So! Now that you are all fed and watered..."

Barry's eyebrows rose. Caitlin snorted. "Are we mules?" she muttered.

"...I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices."

"Mr. Filch has asked me to inform you that the list of forbidden items inside the castle has been expanded this year to include Fanged Frisbees, Screaming Yo-yos, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. I believe that the entire list is composed of four hundred and thirty-seven items, and can be viewed inside Mr. Filch's office, should you wish to examine it."

"As always, the forest is off bounds to the students, as is Hogsmeade to students second year and younger." Dumbledore smiled wistfully as if remembering more pleasant times.

"It is my _painful_ duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not be taking place this year…"

Chatter spread through the hall like wildfire. Fred and George had to collect their own jaws off of the ground, as they soundlessly gaped at the headmaster. Dumbledore motioned for the students to quiet down.

"This is due to an event that Hogwarts will be hosting this year in October, continuing throughout the rest of the year, taking up much of the time and energy of our staff. I am sure all of you will be immensely entertained, and it is with great honor and pride that I announce that this year Hogwarts will be participating in the-" Dumbledore was cut off as a rumble of thunder echoed through the hall.

Barry whirled to face the entrance and saw that the intruder was a rather gnarled-looking man. A clunk echoed through the hall every other time he took a step, his wooden leg coming into contact with the ground. His magical eye whirled around in its socket until it rested on Barry and Caitlin. He stopped in his tracks and spun to face them. He looked at them intently, as if memorizing their faces. Barry raised an eyebrow and the man 'humphed', turned back around, and ambled the rest of the way up to the head table. He took a seat, but his magical eye continued to rest firmly on Barry and Caitlin.

In the silence, Dumbledore began to speak again. "May I introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher? Professor Moody." Normally, the students would clap for a new professor, but the only ones clapping were Dumbledore and Hagrid.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "As I was saying, this year, Hogwarts has the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the year, an event that has not been held in over a century. I am very pleased to announce that the Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts this year."

Silence.

Suddenly, "You're JOKING!" Fred and George exclaimed loudly in unison. Everyone laughed, dissolving the tension. Dumbledore chuckled.

"No, Messrs Weasley, I am not joking, though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar…" Dumbledore was cut off as McGonagall loudly cleared her throat.

"Er - maybe this isn't the right time for that… no… er… Where was I? Ah. Yes, the Triwizard Tournament." Dumbledore went on to explain the general concept of the tournament, including the history, where he mentioned the death toll. At this, the students in the hall began to whisper excitedly to one another. Barry was sure that a few were making bets as to who would get put in.

"The entourages of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at the end of October, and the three champions will be selected on Halloween by an impartial judge. The winner receives fame, glory, and the money prize of a thousand galleons!"

"I'm going for it!" Fred stage-whispered. Dumbledore chuckled.

"I realize that many of you are enthusiastic, but unfortunately-" McGonagall scowled at him, "-you must be of age to enter, according to restrictions set by the Ministry of Magic." Dumbledore had to raise his volume over the angry exclamations made by the students. "We feel that this is necessary due to the inherent danger of some of the tasks. I will be personally ensuring that no student can hoodwink our impartial judge. I encourage you not to waste your time attempting to submit yourself if you are underage."

"Now, I expect you to show support for your Hogwarts champion, and at least refrain from sabotaging the other contenders. Finally, it is late, and it is important for you to be well-rested, so off you go to bed. Chop chop!" With that, Dumbledore concluded his speech and sat back down. He then immediately immersed himself in conversation with Moody.

Moody seemed to be very invested in his conversation with the headmaster, but Barry noted that the magical eye still rested on him and Caitlin.

There was just _something_ about the man that made Barry uneasy. He looked at Caitlin. "Is it just me, or does he make you feel uneasy?"

Caitlin frowned. "I feel it too. I don't trust that guy as far as I can throw him."

Ron, who was sitting across from them, nodded. "Yeah. That guy, he's sure to give out a feeling like that. Dad says that he's one of the best Aurors the DMLE had ever seen. He's also known for being extra paranoid. He'd probably be proud that you don't trust him, now that I think about it."

Barry shook his head. "No, I mean, he's been looking at us almost since he entered. No one _that_ interested in me that's never met me before has ever turned out to be a good guy." He turned to Caitlin and lowered his voice. "Think about Wells."

Caitlin frowned. "These situations aren't exactly comparable. Wells had been planning that accident for fourteen or fifteen years, according to his will and confession. Here, you're famous. _Everyone_ knows who you are," she whispered back

Ron looked back and forth between Caitlin and Barry. "What are you talking about?"

"Not here!" Barry insisted. "We can talk in our dorm."

"Oh, for heaven's sake," Caitlin muttered, casting a silencing charm. "No one can hear us now."

Barry shrugged. "Reverse-Flash was born in the far future. He replicated the accident that made me what I am because he idolized me. But he learned to hate me when he discovered that he was meant to be my greatest enemy. At one point, he and I had been fighting in some crisis in 2024, and we both disappeared. What happened was that he went back in time and tried to kill me. My future self saved my life, but he killed my mother. Unfortunately for him, he was stuck here in the past. So, he orchestrated a particle accelerator explosion, which created a lightning bolt, which struck me in my CSI lab. The lightning, combined with the chemicals, created my connection to the Speed Force. What he wanted to do was to train me to go faster so that he'd eventually be able to use me to get home. His plan failed though, because his ancestor, Eddie Thawne, killed himself, which supposedly erased Eobard from the timeline. The only reason he's alive now is that he made a time remnant. He literally impersonated a guy named Harrison Wells for nearly fourteen years."

"Oh," Ron said.

Caitlin huffed before canceling the charm.

"Common room?" Barry asked Ron.

"Common room," Ron confirmed.

* * *

**Five Minutes Ago**

**Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**September 1st, 2008**

Eobard Thawne looked contemplatively at Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody.

Why had he looked at Potter and Granger like that?

Could they have… No, Barry Allen wouldn't do that… right?

* * *

**Fourth Year Boys Dorm, Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**September 1st, 2008**

Barry was looking out the window, ignoring the snores of his peers. Something had been troubling him.

Who was Thawne impersonating?

He just felt so guilty. They couldn't help combat him from here, and with them away, Thawne would be unstoppable.

Suddenly, Barry shot to his feet. What looked like two Kryptonian pods were hurtling towards the ground outside.

In a blink of an eye and a flash of light, Barry was next to Caitlin's bed in his suit, shaking her awake.

"Hmm? Barry?"

He shushed her.

"Ugh, what…"

"Get up!" he whispered furiously, "I think two Kryptonian pods are landing outside!"

She shot out of bed with a flash of blue lightning and sped into her suit.

Without another word, Barry phased through the tower's walls and ran down the side of the castle, Caitlin following closely behind.

Their feet made small cracks in the stone as they ran, and Barry's yellow lightning mingled with Caitlin's blue lightning, making it appear green.

They hit the grass, quiet thumps indicating their feet colliding with the ground.

Barry ran ahead, speeding far in front of Caitlin, arriving at the damaged-looking pods a few seconds before her. Lightning still crackling across his now mostly-still form.

A faint hissing noise came from the nearest pod and it opened. Inside was a woman, whose eyes snapped open and gasped.

Barry offered her his hand, intending to help her out, but when she grasped it, she gripped too hard, and Bary cried out as his bones broke.

He still helped her out, but then stepped back and allowed Speed Force energy to flood his system, healing his hand with lightning arcing off his body.

He looked at the pod again and gasped. "Caitlin!" he said, "This is Kara's pod!"

Her eyes lit up. "Get the bracelet!"

He sped off, and Kara looked confusedly at Caitlin unable to understand a single word that had been said apart from 'Kara', which was her name.

Just a second later, Barry was back and slid the bracelet on her wrist.

Instantly, she passed out, falling limply to the ground. It was very anticlimactic.

The second pod hissed and slid open, revealing a baby.

Caitlin squealed a very un-Caitlin-like sound.

Seeing Barry's disgruntled expression, she scowled. "Hey, don't give me that, Barry! That's Superman! Remember?"

Barry's mouth dropped open. "Baby Superman? Oh my God!"

Suddenly, the incapacitated Kryptonian groaned before rolling onto her back. "Ugh… what… Barry? Oh no… Nothing good ever happens when you show up… No offense."

"None taken, Kara," Barry said, helping her up.

"Ugh," she said again, "why do I feel so weak… wait… weren't we just working on my bracelet…? Oh no… Oh no, no no no. No, please don't tell me that… Crap. I'm wearing it."

Barry winced. "Hey, at least you're in your own body, Danvers. You're not even younger."

Her eyes widened. "Lemme see _your_ new body if it's so different! I wanna see! You look short, so you're gonna be _really cute!_ I just _know_ it!"

Barry laughed, pulling off his mask. "Yeah… his name is Harry Potter. Also, he's a wizard. So now, I'm a wizard-speedster."

Kara gaped. " _Wizards?_ That's so cool! Also, you _are_ cute."

"Yeah," Barry agreed while decidedly ignoring _that_ last statement. "Magic is so cool. The only sad thing is that the government is really shitty."

"What?"

"Corruption, bigotry, all sorts of bad stuff."

"Wow…" she agreed.

"We have a problem, though," Caitlin said, drawing Kara's attention to her.

"Caitlin! You're here too! I wanna see what you look like!"

Caitlin sighed, pulling her mask off as well. "Her name is Hermione Granger."

" _Cute_ ," she said, "Who am I?"

Barry smirked. "Kara Zor-El."

She frowned. "No, no. My _new_ name."

"That _is_ your name. For whatever reason, two pods just crashed here." He gestured behind her.

Her mouth formed an 'o'. "That's what you meant by 'in my own body'."

Then she looked at the other pod.

"OH MY GOD! Baby Clark!"

Barry couldn't stop himself from laughing as Kara picked up the exceptionally _cute_ baby.

"He's gonna be so _strong_ when he grows up, right? Isn't that right, little cousin?" she babbled at the baby.

"Um, sorry Kara, but we have a bit of a problem," Caitlin spoke up, interrupting Kara's babbling.

"What?" Kara asked.

"We have to go to this boarding school, which you don't attend," Barry pointed out, seeing where Caitlin was going with this.

"Plus, you have a 'cute baby cousin' there," Caitlin added reasonably.

Kara frowned. "Where will I go? It's not like there's likely to be a DEO here… No Alex… No Winn… I literally know no one."

Caitlin looked sympathetic. "Will you be okay?"

Kara schooled her features. "Don't worry, I'll cry later. I'm fine right now."

Barry frowned. "Are you sure…?"

"Yes," Kara said firmly. "Tell me where I'm going."

"We have a cottage in Godric's Hollow," Barry said. "I can take you there and put the pods in the basement. We'll be able to visit you every now and then."

Kara nodded. "Great."

Caitlin frowned. "I know you've got your hands full with baby Kal there, but we've got a favor to ask."

Kara looked her in the eye. "Anything. I literally owe my entire existence to you two."

"Eobard Thawne escaped the rewrite," Barry said bluntly.

Kara frowned. "That evil yellow speedster dude that killed your mom?"

Barry nodded. "Yeah."

"How'd he do that?"

He shrugged. "Probably the Negative Speed Force."

Kara 'hmmed' thoughtfully. "What do you want me to do?"

"Could you keep an eye out for him, and capture him if possible?" Caitlin asked.

Kara looked at Barry. "We're about the same speed, right?"

Barry nodded. "Me and you, we're the same speed, yeah, but not Thawne. The Negative Speed Force changed him. He's significantly faster than me. You should have the advantage, however, because of your strength, heat vision, flight, and other powers I can't remember right now because you honestly have so many powers."

"Also," Caitlin said, "Barry and I took a day last month to run around the world. There's no Kryptonite here."

Kara looked absolutely ecstatic. "Great! Once he's been exposed to the yellow sun for long enough, it'll be almost impossible for him to be hurt!"

Barry smiled. "That's great! Don't forget, though, that that applies to you too… just don't get overconfident."

Kara scoffed. "Never. Anyway, I'm sure you'd like to go back to sleep. Would you take me home?"

Barry nodded. "Yeah, sure. Caitlin, can you grab one of the pods? I'll take the one she doesn't grab and you can fly after me."

Caitlin and Kara nodded, though Kara was confused as to how Caitlin would carry a pod.

"Great. Let's go."

With a grunt, Barry lifted Kara's pod and rocketed away, his path indicated by a trail of yellow lightning. Caitlin's blue following closely behind. Kara gaped. _Caitlin was a speedster?_

She shook her head and took off, flying above the two, who she quickly caught up to as they were slower carrying their load.

She tried to ignore the squealing laughter of little Kal-El in her arms.

* * *

**Riddle House, Little Hangleton**

**September 2nd, 2008**

A quiet _pop_ sounded as a gnarled-looking man with a wooden leg materialized outside of what the townspeople called the Riddle House.

The man staggered over to the nearest wall and leaned against it while groaning in pain as his skin bubbled and twisted and contorted.

The wooden leg fell off as a real leg grew in its place and one of the man's eyes fell out, only to be replaced with another.

After the changes stopped, the man let out a heavy sigh and knelt down, shrinking the wooden leg. He picked up the discarded eye and shrunken leg and placed them in his pocket as he ambled inside.

A short, rat-like man scampered past him as he walked up the stairs.

The previously-gnarled man pushed open the door at the end of the hallway and quickly bowed in front of the armchair.

"My Lord, I bring news."

"Out with it, Barty," said a horrible baby-sized creature.

Barty Crouch Junior smiled a terrifying smile and began to speak. "It's Potter. There's some strange magic surrounding him and that mudblood, Granger. It reminds me of… pure energy, almost. I can't say I've ever seen anything like it before. It doesn't seem that they can use it though… It just looks like it's surrounding them… maybe a shield or a new ward?"

The creature let out an annoyed sound. "This changes nothing. Proceed as planned, and do not bring such useless information to me again, Barty."

Crouch Jr. nodded. "Yes, my Lord."

" _Crucio!"_

His screams echoed through the night sky.

* * *

**Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow**

**September 13th, 2008**

Kara Danvers was happily sitting in a comfortable armchair holding a very gleeful-looking Kal-El.

The first thing she'd quickly come to realize was that Kryptonian babies were rather hard to manage. Kal had repeatedly melted anything that drew Kara's attention away from him. An example of this was when Kara tried to read a book.

He took one look at it and burnt a hole through the thing.

The second thing she'd quickly come to realize was that this world was having odd effects on her.

Every time she'd found herself feeling particularly emotional, weird things tended to happen.

When she'd finally realized the severity of her situation and had broken down into tears, the house had _shaken_ , the walls rattling.

She had been standing at the start, but by the time she managed to calm down, she had fallen down twice.

The second time was she realized Barry had somehow stuffed a copy of her Supergirl suit plus a new mask into her bracelet.

She had felt overwhelming gratitude. It was lucky she was outside at the time, considering that all of the plant life around her had doubled in size.

She noticed that it was happening to Kal too. Whenever he'd get particularly angry, something nearby would break. Sometimes she wondered if he had uncontrollable telekinesis.

And now, she was, in fact, sitting happily on an armchair, but the problem was that the armchair was, in fact, floating a foot in the air.

It wasn't really much of an issue that the chair was floating and that they were on it. The chair wasn't high enough to break when it fell, and the two of them certainly wouldn't be hurt when the chair fell. The real problem was then Kara didn't know _why_ the chair was floating. She didn't know _why_ any of these strange things were happening.

The only possible conclusion that she could make was that it was magic. But that wasn't possible… was it? They weren't magical… were they?

She needed to talk to Barry.

An owl pecked on the window, drawing Kal's attention, and therefore causing the chair to fall noisily to the ground, and Kara letting out an _oomph_.

She stood with Kal in her arms and walked over and opened the window, allowing the owl in. She glanced warily at the grinning baby and _hoped_ with all her heart that he wouldn't cook the poor bird.

She noticed that the owl was clutching a newspaper in its talons, and she moved over to the bag she kept the wizarding money in and rifled through it with one hand, looking for the right amount of money.

How many did Barry say it was…? One of these… Ah, no. It was five of those brown ones… Yeah, that was it.

Grinning to herself, she marched purposefully over to the owl and put the coins in the little coin purse tied to its left talon.

The owl hooted its approval and released the newspaper before flying out the window.

Kara glanced down at the child in her arms and her heart almost stopped.

Little Kal-El was on the brink of frying that poor bird.

She watched the glow recede, and after little Kal blinked, it was gone.

Who knew babies were such a handful?

Maybe it was best that she waited until he was asleep before looking at the day's newspaper.

Unfortunately, she couldn't get him to fall asleep for another hour, at which point she collapsed onto the armchair that had been floating earlier, feeling utterly defeated.

"I need donuts," she mumbled.

For whatever reason, she hadn't needed to eat as much lately. She knew it wasn't because of her smaller body, because she ate just as much when she first landed on Earth-38.

Where she imagined that Caitlin and Barry were likely ecstatic at this development, she was quite disappointed, because it meant she couldn't eat her precious pot-stickers or her precious donuts as often, because no matter how much she loved her food, it was 'don't wanna be fat' above all.

She couldn't stress eat anymore!

It was a true tragedy.

Kara picked herself up and ambled over to the table where she had left her newspaper and opened it up, excited to read.

_**WHO IS THE REVERSE-FLASH?** _

_Early this morning, twenty more wizards were found dead, killed by the  
Reverse-Flash (Coined by the Flash himself)._

_But who is the man behind the mask? Who could be so terrible to murder  
so indiscriminately?_

_An in-depth interview was graciously provided by the Flash himself on the  
horrible backstory behind the infamous villain. For this interview, conducted  
by Angelina Richter, turn to page five._

Intrigued, Kara flipped through the paper until she reached the fifth page.

_**THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK - WHO IS THE REVERSE-FLASH?** _

_By: Angelina Richter_

_I was greeted inside the Leaky Cauldron by none other than the Flash himself,  
who graciously offered this interview. He led me to a table, supplying me with  
a nice glass of water and, of course, some deeply frightening information._

" _His name is Eobard Thawne," says the Flash in his deep, vibrating voice, "and  
he has utterly ruined my life."_

_Of course, I couldn't help but ask what he meant._

" _When I was eleven," the red-clad man began, "he murdered my mother, but  
my father was sent to prison for the crime. I spent the next fourteen years  
searching for him, searching for a way to free my father, when after a freak  
accident involving lightning and various chemicals, I became just like him - fast."_

_After this deeply moving information, I ask why such an evil man would murder  
his mother, and his answer astounded me._

" _He wasn't from our time," Flash explains while shaking his head sadly, "Born  
in the long distant future, Eobard Thawne lived his life idolizing the Flash until  
he one day replicated the accident that made me what I am. Eventually, he grew  
bitter when he learned he was truly destined to be my greatest enemy. He traveled  
back in time to various points in my life, trying to destroy me. At one point, he  
had engaged my future self in combat during a crisis of epic proportions during the  
year 2024. Under red skies, he and my future self disappeared from that time,  
Thawne running back to kill me, my future self running back to stop him._

_It was a night when I was eleven. I had gotten into a fight earlier that day, and  
after treating my cuts and bruises, my mother and father put me to bed, but I  
was awoken in the middle of the night by sounds of fighting. I ran downstairs and  
saw my mother surrounded by red and yellow lightning. I continued to watch,  
helpless until suddenly, the yellow lighting ran towards me and deposited me far  
away from home._

_By the time I got home, my mother was dead and my father was arrested. I was  
taken in by one of the cops and he raised me like I was one of his own."_

_This heart-wrenching tale almost had him in tears, but I had to know more, the  
people deserved to know more. I asked how the Reverse-Flash got his name._

" _He is my reverse," the Flash says, "he is the reverse of everything I stand for."_

_He looks up, and without prompting, provides even more information. "He can  
impersonate people non-magically, and he is an extremely good actor. He could  
be anyone, anywhere. There's no way of knowing who's identity he's stolen…"_

That wasn't the end, but Kara couldn't read anymore. She hadn't known all of that!

She decided right there, sitting on her favorite armchair, she'd help him in any way she could, and if that meant caring for her crazy Kryptonian baby cousin, she'd do it.

* * *

_I’m your super friend, your super friend!_

_When it comes to buddies, pal, you’re the best!_

_I love you more than the lightning bolt I wear on my chest…_


	7. The Fastest Champion Alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of this chapter was taken verbatim from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J. K. Rowling."

**Previously on** _**After the New Dawn** _ **:**

" _The entourages of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at the end of October, and the three champions will be selected on Halloween by an impartial judge. The winner receives fame, glory, and the money prize of a thousand galleons!"_

…

_Kara decided right there, sitting on her favorite armchair, she'd help him in any way she could, and if that meant caring for her crazy Kryptonian baby cousin, she'd do it._

* * *

**Chapter 7 - Fastest Champion Alive**

**Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, After the New Dawn**

**October 30th, 2008**

Back on the 23rd, Barry Allen had been innocently eating his dinner next to his lovely fiancée (not that anyone knew that part) and most certainly not expecting a far-too-excited Ron Weasley plopping down next to him ("Did you hear, Harry? Durmstrang and Beauxbatons are coming next week! And guess what? _Viktor Krum_ goes to Durmstrang!") and somehow irritating Caitlin enough for her to surreptitiously freeze his steak ("Blimey, Hermione! That hurt my teeth!" - "Yes, I know it was you!").

And of course, that's how he found himself standing out in the cold and awaiting the arrival of the two delegations (next to his lovely fiancée, of course).

"It's nearly six," Ron had been saying, "How d'you reckon they're coming? The train?"

"Doubt it," Barry muttered, quietly observing Dennis Creevey vibrating with anticipation.

"D'you think he's cold?" Caitlin muttered to Barry, clearly looking in the same direction as him.

"No, no," Barry said with no small amount of amusement, "he's not cold, he's _excited_."

Caitlin had to muffle a snort, causing Ron to turn and give her an annoyed look. "S'not funny, Hermione," he said, clearly not having heard their little exchange, "That's a perfectly good way for them to get here."

 _That_ time, Caitlin really did have to muffle a snort at Ron's statement. "Oh, for god's sake - Ron, look at Dennis."

"Oh," Ron said, sounding deeply embarrassed.

Their attention was drawn to Dumbledore as he cleared his throat. "Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beaxbatons approaches!"

This statement caused many students to look around eagerly, a few saying " _Where?_ "

"There!" yelled a fifth year, pointing above the forest.

Something large - very large, in fact - was hurtling across the deep blue sky toward the castle, growing larger as it neared them.

"It's a dragon!" screamed a first year, covering her eyes.

"Don't be stupid… it's a flying house!" Dennis exclaimed.

As it turned out, Dennis's guess was closer. It was a gigantic, powder-blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring toward them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant.

"Holy shit," Caitlin said, causing everyone in hearing distance to look at her oddly - Hermione Granger _never_ swore.

Even Ron, who was the most adjusted to magic of the trio, was openly gaping at the Beauxbatons transport.

The front three rows of students drew backward as the carriage hurtled even lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed. "Bet that it's faster than you, Harry," Ron teased.

"No way," Barry retorted.

Then, with an almighty crash that made Neville jump backward, nearly stepping on the foot of a fifth year Slytherin, the horse' hooves, larger than dinner plates, hit the ground. A second later, the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels, while the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery-red eyes.

The door opened and a boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage, bent forward, fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor, and unfolded a set of golden steps. He sprang back respectfully. Then, a high-heeled black shoe emerged from the inside of the carriage - a shoe the size of a child's sled - followed, almost immediately, by the largest woman Barry had ever seen in both of his lives. The size of the carriage, and of the horses, was immediately explained.

The only person that Barry could compare to this woman was maybe Hagrid. As she stepped into the light flooding from the entrance hall, she was revealed to have a handsome, olive-skinned face; large, black, liquid-looking eyes; and a rather beaky nose. Her hair was drawn back in a shining knob at the base of her neck. She was dressed from head to foot in black satin, and many magnificent opals gleamed at her throat and on her think fingers.

Dumbledore started to clap; the students, following his lead, broke into applause too, many of them standing on tiptoe, the better to look at this woman.

Her face relaxed into a gracious smile and she walked forward toward Dumbledor, extending a glittering hand. Dumbledore, though tall himself, had barely to bend to kiss it.

"My dear Madame Maxime," he said. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbly-door," said Madame Maxime in a deep voice. "I 'ope I find you well?"

"In excellent form, I thank you," Dumbledore replied graciously.

"My pupils," she said, waving one of her enormous hands carelessly behind her.

About a dozen boys and girls had emerged from the carriage, all looking like they were in their late teens, were now standing behind Madame Maxime. They were shivering, unsurprisingly, given that their robes seemed to be made of fine silk, and none of them were wearing cloaks. A few had wrapped scarves and shawls around their heads. Most of them were staring up at Hogwarts with apprehensive looks on their faces.

"'As Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime asked.

"Any moment now," Dumbledore replied, looking out at the lake. "Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you prefer to step inside and warm up a trifle?"

"Warm up, I think," said Madame Maxime. "But ze 'orses-"

"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to take care of them," said Dumbledore, "the moment he has returned from dealing with a slight situation that has arisen with some of his other - er - charges. "  
"Skrewts," Ron muttered to Barry grinning.

Indeed, Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts were quite dangerous and were often rebellious.

"My steeds require - er - forceful 'andling," said Madame Maxime, looking as though she doubted whether any Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts would be up to the job. "Zey are very strong…"

"I assure you that Hagrid will be well up to the job," said Dumbledore, smiling.

"Very well," said Madame Maxine, bowing slightly. "Will you please inform zis 'Agrid zat ze 'orses drink only single-malt whiskey?"

"It will be attended to," said Dumbledore, also bowing.

"Come," said Madame Maxime to her students, and the Hogwarts crowd parted to allow her and her students to pass up the stone steps.

They stood, shivering slightly now (except for Caitlin), waiting for the Durmstrang party to arrive. Most people were gazing hopefully at the sky. For a few minutes, the silence was only broken by Madame Maxime's huge horses snorting and stamping.

"Can you hear something?" Barry asked suddenly.

Caitlin nodded, listening to the loud and oddly eerie noise drifting toward them from out of the darkness: a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, as though an immense vacuum cleaner were moving along a riverbed…

"The lake!" yelled Fred, pointing down at it. "Look at the lake!"

From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water - except that the surface was suddenly not smooth at all. Some disturbance was taking place deep in the center; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks - and then, out in the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the lake's floor.

What seemed to be a long, black pole began to rise slowly out of the heart of the whirlpool…

"It's a mast!" Caitlin exclaimed.

Slowly, magnificently, the ship rose out of the water, gleaming in the moonlight. It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it were a resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes looked like ghostly eyes. Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide toward the bank. A few moments later, they heard the splash of an anchor being thrown down in the shallows, and the thud of a plank being lowered onto the bank.

People were disembarking; they could see their silhouettes passing the lights in the ship's portholes. As they drew nearer, it became clear that they were all wearing bulky cloaks of some kind of shaggy, matted fur. The man leading them, however, was wearing furs of a different sort: sleek and silver, like his hair.

"Dumbledore!" he called heartily as he walked up the slope. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"

"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied.

Karkaroff was tall and thin, but his white hair was short, and his goatee (finishing in a small curl) did not entirely hide his rather weak chin. When he reached Dumbledore, he shook hands with both of his own.

"Dear old Hogwarts," he said, looking up at the castle. "How good it is to be here, how good… Viktor, come along, into the warmth… you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold…"

Karkaroff beckoned forward one of his students. As the boy passed, Barry recognized him immediately - not needing the punch to his arm that Ron gave him or the whispered: "Harry - _it's Krum!_ "

With that, everyone moved back inside towards the Great Hall. They sat down at the Gryffindor table and looked around the Hall. The Beauxbatons students had taken seats at the Ravenclaw table, and the Durmstrang students had sat at the Slytherin table - much to Ron's displeasure.

After everyone had taken their seats, the staff entered quickly, accompanied by Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime.

Once the staff and guests were seated, Dumbledore stood, drawing the attention of everyone in the Hall.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and - most particularly - guests," he said, beaming around at the foreign students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

One of the Beauxbatons girls still clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh.

"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," Dumbledore continued, undaunted. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

The plates filled with food, as usual, only, some of the food was unmistakably foreign.

"What's _that?_ " Ron asked Caitlin, pointing at a large dish of some sort of shellfish stew that stood beside a large steak-and-kidney pudding.

"Bouillabaisse," Caitlin supplied.

"Bless you," said Ron.

Barry couldn't help but laugh. "Ron… that's the name of the food - it's _French_."

Ron blushed.

Hagrid sidled into the Hall through a door behind the staff table twenty minutes after the start of the feast. He slid into his seat at the end and waved at Barry, Ron, and Caitlin with a heavily bandaged hand.

"Skrewts doing all right, Hagrid?" Ron called.

"Thrivin'," Hagrid called back happily.

Barry choked on his pumpkin juice while Caitlin attempted to muffle her laugh.

At that moment, a voice said, "Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?"

It was the girl who laughed during Dumbledore's feast.

Ron went very purple. He stared up at her, opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out except a faint gurgling noise.

"Yeah, whatever," Barry said, pushing the dish toward her.

"You 'ave finished wiz it?" she said, giving Barry a penetrating stare, almost as if she expecting him to do something…

"Yeah," Ron said breathlessly. "It was excellent."

The girl frowned before picking up the dish and carrying it off to the Ravenclaw table. Ron was still goggling at her backside as she walked away. Barry couldn't help himself, he started to laugh again.

"She's a _veela!_ " he said hoarsely to Barry.

Caitlin shook her head in amusement and Barry thumped his friend on the back. "Tell yourself whatever you need to feel better, mate."

"I'm telling you, that's not a normal girl!" Ron exclaimed, leaning to the side to keep a clear view of her. "They don't make them like that at Hogwarts!"

"Really?" Barry said dubiously.

"Really!" Ron replied enthusiastically.

"I'm quite sure they make them like that at Hogwarts," Barry said, casting a not-so-subtle glance in Caitlin's direction, who blushed.

After the food was all polished off and the golden plates wiped clean, Dumbledore stood once more.

"The moment has come," he said, smiling at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to begin. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket-"

"The what?" Ron muttered.

Barry shook his head, not feeling like explaining.

"-just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those that do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation" -there was a smattering of polite applause- "and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

There was a much louder round of applause for Bagman, who acknowledged it with a jovial wave of his hand.

"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts."

At the mention of "champions," the attentiveness of the student population seemed to sharpen. "The casket then, if you please, Mr. Filch," said Dumbledore, who seemed to notice this.

Filch approached Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest adorned with jewels. It looked quite old.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," said Dumbledore as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. Their magical prowess - their daring - their powers of deduction - and, of course, their ability to cope with danger."

At this last word, the Hall was filled with a silence so absolute that nobody seemed to be breathing.

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," Dumbledore went on calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after the three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore now took out his wand and tapped three times upon the top of the casket. The lid creaked slowly open. Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable if it had not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames.

He closed the casket and placed the goblet carefully on top of it, where it would be visible to everyone in the Hall.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as a champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," said Dumbledore, "I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line."

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to its end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

While most of the students all over the Hall were chattering about who would enter and who would win, Barry and Caitlin exchanged an uneasy glance.

They both vividly remembered the introduction of _Magical Oaths and Contracts_ : " _While neither is outlawed by the Ministry, it is best to be more cautious when entering a contract, as consequences enforced by magic are naturally more severe."_

They didn't want to even _think_ about the consequences of a contract created by a _very old_ magical artifact, much less enter the contract.

Noticing their unease, Ron was confused. "Hey, Harry, Hermione, why are you guys looking so down? This is the ultimate chance for glory!"

Barry swallowed almost audibly. "I'm certainly not entering, Ron, never mind the age line, but think about it. It's a magical contract created by a _really_ old magical artifact. When it was made, you'd think that the consequences were charmed into it… and you know that punishments in the magical world even nowadays are pretty severe - loss of magic, for example. Just think about what the consequences would've been a few hundred years ago and that's probably what the consequences for breaking that contract are. I don't want to risk myself to that in any way."

Ron gulped. "When you put it that way…"

"Yeah," Caitlin said, "not to mention that magical contracts are inherently darker than magical oaths, and their consequences have _always_ been naturally more severe. I agree with Ba-Harry. There's no way either of us are entering, and I don't think you should try either."

Ron nodded quickly. "Yeah, when you put it like that… I don't want to accidentally lose my magic!"

"I should hope not," Caitlin said, laughing quietly.

* * *

**Entrance Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**October 31st, 2008**

Deep in the night, a man with a wooden leg snuck through the hallway, his grip tight around a small slip of paper.

He eyed the Goblet of Fire warily as he approached it.

Holding the paper up so he could ensure it said the right words he smirked as he read the name _Harry Potter - Ilvermorny_.

He stepped passed the age line, which didn't affect him because he was older than seventeen, dropped the name in, and turned to walk away.

What he didn't notice, however, was when the name on the paper rewrote itself in the light of the fire.

* * *

**Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow**

**October 31st, 2008**

Kara thought that it was the funniest thing when she walked out of the house in her Supergirl suit, carrying a tiny Kal-El wearing a baby-sized Superman costume.

Since it was Halloween, nobody would think twice about her being dressed up.

As she passed several young trick-or-treaters, all she heard was "Nice costume, lady," and "Your baby is so cute!" She would, of course, reply "Why _thank you!_ " or, obviously, "I _know_ , right! He's just **so** _cute_!"

It felt so freeing, being able to walk around like this.

Little Kal, was of course, in his element, cooing at all of the passing children.

This was all interrupted, however, by a man walking down the center of the street wearing a black hoodie, which hid his face. His left sleeve was longer than the other, and it covered the entirety of his arm, including his hand.

Kara didn't notice him until he moved to the sidewalk and was right behind her.

She was aware enough, however, to block the punch that came from the covered arm.

"Who are you?" she asked curiously as she gripped the sleeved arm firmly in her hand.

The man simply grunted and tore his arm out of her grip, something which astounded her. What happened next similarly shocked her. The movement tore off his sleeve up to the shoulder, and she discovered that he had a metal arm with a red star up near the shoulder.

"I don't know what grievances you have with me," Kara said as Kal started to cry, "but you _will_ leave us be, or I will make you go."

He responded by punching her in the gut, which had no effect apart from denting his fist. He stared at his dented hand incredulously, which was the first emotion she'd seen from him.

She smirked and grabbed the arm again, squeezing on it and crushing it. Once it was as thin as a handle, she flew into the sky, ignoring the man who was trying to pry her hand off his arm. As they rose higher and higher, Kal stopped crying and made a delighted noise, sounding quite excited.

She started flying down toward the ocean, not looking down once at the man she was flying away.

As they descended, the man's movements became more frantic, and just before she dropped him, he choked out a frantic "Please!" which was the first word she'd heard from him. She gave him a contemplative look.

"I'm not sure I can trust you. Why shouldn't I drop you?" she asked.

"Name… Bucky… I… remember… HYDRA… Brainwashed…" He seemed to have trouble getting his words out.

_Brainwashed… Was he brainwashed? And what was HYDRA?_

She flew down to the ground, being a bit more careful with Bucky this time.

As they touched down, she let go of his arm. "Are you all right? Wait… sorry, that's a terrible question. I crushed your arm. How can I help?"

"Arm… doesn't… hurt…" Bucky managed, "No… feeling…"

That assuaged her guilt somewhat. At least his arm didn't hurt.

"Sorry," she said anyway. "Where can we get you a new one? I kinda busted that one."

Bucky shook his head. "HYDRA… made arm…"

Kara frowned. "Sorry… what is HYDRA? That sounds vaguely familiar."

"Nazi science," he said. Suddenly, he looked stricken and fell to his knees.

"What?" she asked, carefully moving towards him.

"Steve," he gasped.

Kara looked at Kal and quickly covered his eyes when she noticed they were burning red, about to fire. "What?" she asked again.

Bucky looked up at her imploringly. "My friend Steve… Rogers…"

She gasped. "Captain America?" She had read about him… Oh! That's where she'd heard of HYDRA before… but weren't they supposed to be gone?

"Yes!" Bucky said. "Where…"

Suddenly, Kara pitied this man immensely. "Bucky… I'm sorry. He saved the world, but crashed the plane."

He broke down into sobs while Kara looked on uncomfortably.

* * *

**Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**October 31st, 2008**

Perhaps because it was their second feast in two days, Barry didn't seem to fancy the extravagantly prepared food as much as he would have normally. Like everyone else in the Hall, judging by the constantly craning necks, the impatient expressions on every face, the fidgeting, and the standing up to see whether Dumbledore had finished eating yet, Barry simply wanted the plates to clear, and to hear who had been selected as champions.

With a quick glance at Caitlin, he noted that she seemed to share his opinion.

At long last, the golden plates returned to their original spotless state; there was a sharp upswing in the level of noise within the Hall, which died away almost instantly as Dumbledore got to his feet. On either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked as tense and expectant as everyone. Ludo Bagman was beaming and winking at various students, mostly girls, Barry noted. Mr. Crouch, however, looked quite disinterested, almost bored.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" -he indicated the door behind the staff table- "where they will be receiving their first instructions."

He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes. Everyone watched, waiting… A few people kept checking their watches…

"Any second," Ron whispered excitedly.

The flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red again. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it - the whole room gasped.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white.

"The champion for Durmstrang," he read in a strong, clear voice, "will be Matvei Ivanov."

A wave of applause swept through the Hall, much less than there should have been, Barry thought, and it mingled with quiet murmurs from various students. One quick glance at Krum proved that it was the unexpectedness of the name which caused the lack of applause. Krum looked dumbfounded. It was clear he expected to be the champion.

A tall, thin boy with messy brown hair stood from the Slytherin table and swept up toward Dumbledore with a proud posture; he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.

"It wasn't Krum?" Ron whispered incredulously. Barry shot him a look.

After the mutterings and quiet applause died down, everyone turned their attention back to the goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Jeannette Baudin!"

A short, blond-haired girl stood stiffly, ignoring the glares from the girl that Ron thought was a veela.

An enthusiastic round of applause sounded, and the girl's posture relaxed slightly. She quickly made her way to the chamber behind the staff table.

Everyone held their breaths, the Hogwarts champion was next.

The goblet turned red one more time and Dumbledore snatched the parchment from the air.

"The Hogwarts champion," he called, "is Angelina Johnson."

The surprised girl stood, prompting another loud round of applause. She followed the same path as her fellow champions.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily as at last the tumult died down. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real way-"

But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everyone what had distracted him.

The fire in the goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment.

Automatically, as it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out:

"Barry Allen."

There was utter silence.

Then: "Who is Barry Allen?" Dumbledore thundered, his voice laced with power and carrying through the Hall.

Caitlin glanced at Barry, who was looking rather pale.

"Time remnant, _now_ ," she hissed. "We'll speak about this later."

Everyone seemed shocked when Barry stood up.

"Sorry, everyone," he said, his voice carrying, "but this just is _not_ my day today."

With that, he flashed out of the room in a path lit by yellow lightning, leaving behind a Draco Malfoy who screamed out in rage before he similarly left in an explosion of red lightning.

Caitlin gasped. Malfoy was Thawne!

Outside of Hogwarts, Barry disappeared into the time stream, while Thawne could do no more than watch, incensed as the timeline collapsed around him.

* * *

**Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**One Minute Ago**

"Barry Allen."

There was utter silence.

At least, there _was_ utter silence until the Flash ran into the Hall, looking exhausted.

" **Sorry,"** he said, panting, " **This is** _ **really**_ **not my day today. I just felt a tug on my magic. Why am I here?"**

Four sets of eyes at the Gryffindor table immediately zeroed in on Barry's pale form.

* * *

**Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow**

**October 31st, 2008**

James "Bucky" Barnes had had a hell of a day. It started when he was deployed. He hadn't even known his own name at that point. He was just called "the Asset," and the woman in front of him was just called "the Target."

He had attacked the Target, but she overpowered him, crushing his metal arm, and had carried him out to sea. Eventually, fright had cut through his perfectly molded mind and he had begun to _remember_. Once the process started, it wouldn't stop, and over the next few hours, he remembered his previous life and _Steve_.

Steve was his best friend, and he was probably now just a rotting corpse at the bottom of the ocean.

The Target, who he had discovered was known as _Kara_ , had shown incredible kindness. She hadn't known how to fix his arm, but she told him that her friends probably could. He was a bit dubious, considering how much she had crushed the arm, but she told him her friends could do literal _magic_. Personally, he wouldn't fully believe it until he saw it, but for now, it still gave him hope.

Now, he found himself in Kara's house, where she had told him he was safe. She said that her friends had put up something called _wards_ , which kept out undesirables.

Now the woman was being even more kind and was helping him discuss his time as "the Asset" so that he could be Bucky again.

This was when something else strange happened. An owl tapped on the window. Kara acted like it was perfectly normal, and opened the window, muttering about how " _The newspaper already came today. What now?"_

She gave the bird five brown coins and fed it before it left. Then, she sat down and opened the paper, gasping at the headline.

A minute later, a much paler Kara handed him the newspaper.

_**Daily Prophet Special Edition - Halloween** _

_**QUADWIZARD TOURNAMENT? FLASH FORCED INTO BINDING MAGICAL CONTRACT** _

_By: Rita Skeeter_

_Late last night, multiple unidentified wizards attacked the campgrounds of the  
_

_It was a surprise to all, when not two hours ago, a fourth name came out of the  
Goblet of Fire. The name that came out, provided by an anonymous source, was  
Barry Allen. Just a few seconds later, the Flash entered the Hall, looking rather  
exhausted, claiming that it just "wasn't his day today" and that he "felt a tug on  
his magic."_

_Our resident superhero was ushered into another room with the rest of the  
champions, and a few minutes later, Headmaster Dumbledore emerged looking  
just as exhausted as the Flash had earlier. He announced to the student population  
at large that the Flash had been entered into the tournament by unknown means._

" _The Flash is the innocent party in all of this," Dumbledore had said. "Unfortunately,  
the magical contract enacted by the Goblet of Fire is in fact, quite binding, and so,  
he must compete, or suffer the consequences."_

_Who could have entered our hero? Could it have been the Reverse-Flash? Or, could  
it have been…_

Bucky looked up at the pale visage of Kara. "Friend of yours?"

She swallowed heavily. "I literally owe my existence to him."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is it time to take a trip, then? I know you have questions for them… you mentioned that you and Kal might be magical? I realize I haven't known you long, but I trust you to protect me from HYDRA. If you could disarm _me_ , 'the Asset,' that easily, you'd have no problems with anyone else. Plus, I wanna meet this friend of yours that you 'owe your existence' to."

Kara laughed, relaxing slightly. "That can be arranged. I'll just have to owl them first so we don't blindside them."

* * *

_Time is a fickle thing. Just one push and it all comes crashing down…_


	8. Shame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter where they switch back to Harry and Hermione, making the story significantly less messed up.  
> I just felt like I had to say that.

**Previously on** _**After the New Dawn** _ **:**

" _Sorry," the Flash said, "This is_ _ **really**_ _not my day today. I just felt a tug on my magic. Why am I here?"_

_At the Gryffindor table, four sets of eyes immediately zeroed in on Barry's pale form._

…

_Bucky raised an eyebrow. "Is it time to take a trip, then? I know you have questions for them… you mentioned that you and Kal could be magical? I realize I haven't known you long, but I trust you to protect me from HYDRA. If you could disarm_ _**me** _ _, 'the Asset,' that easily, you'd have no problems with anyone else. Plus, I wanna meet this friend of yours that you 'owe your existence' to."_

* * *

**Chapter 8 - Shame**

**Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, After the New Dawn**

**November 1st, 2008**

Barry rubbed his eyes wearily. He'd been kept awake by Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George, where they made him explain time remnants. Of course, they didn't understand half of what he said, so he ended up having to give them an in-depth description of his powers, the Speed Force, and time travel in general. It was exhausting. Furthermore, reabsorbing your time-remnant was _also_ exhausting.

That memory he gained was rather interesting. He was quite sure that Thawne was chasing him when he went to travel back, but still couldn't be sure who the man was actually impersonating. Now, however, he knew that it was someone inside Hogwarts.

He was startled by the 'plop' of something landing on his plate. He looked around and saw Caitlin looking at him with deep concern.

"You need to eat, Barry," she whispered. "You look dead on your feet. If you don't get any nutrients, it'll just get worse."

He grumbled, looking down disdainfully at the sausage on his plate. "My magic will sustain me," he protested.

He wilted in the face of her glare. "Okay, okay, I'll eat, no need to hit me with that," he said, referring to her book, which she had lifted threateningly.

He slowly picked up the sausage and lifted it to his mouth before taking a tentative bite.

"There you go," Caitlin said, sounding incredibly smug.

"She's got you whipped, mate," Ron said wisely, observing the interaction.

"Don't you start, Ronald Weasley!" she snapped, sounding incredibly like Mrs. Weasley at that moment. "And mind your manners. Nobody wants to see that."

Ron shivered while Barry snickered quietly.

Suddenly, at least sixty or so owls flew into the hall.

"Oh!" said Barry. "That must be Hedwig, back from her trip to visit Kara!"

Ron looked wonderfully confused. "Kara?" he asked.

Hedwig landed next to Barry and snatched a piece of his bacon before holding out her leg, which had a letter tied to it.

Barry frowned, absentmindedly stroking her while he untied the letter. "Oh. I forgot you two haven't been introduced yet. Don't worry, you'll meet her eventually… actually, maybe sooner rather than later," he said, his eyes diligently scanning the letter that he'd just opened.

"What's it say?" Caitlin asked, peering at the letter as she scooted closer to Barry.

"Kara said she's… met a friend that she wants to introduce? What's that supposed to mean? Anyway, she said she had a few questions for us, and she wants to see a bit more of Hogwarts grounds than she got to see the few minutes she was here before. She's also incredibly worried and is wondering, and I quote, 'what that fast idiot got himself into this time?' Oh. She must have seen the Halloween _Daily Prophet_ ," Barry said.

"Wasn't she taking care of Kal?" Caitlin muttered.

Barry shrugged. "Yeah. I doubt she'd leave him behind. I'll have to practice my _reparo_. I can only guess what a Kryptonian baby can do to the grounds."

Ron looked back and forth between the couple incredulously. "Seriously, what the bloody hell is going on?"

"You'll see," said Barry mysteriously before he turned back to Caitlin. "When do you think she should visit? I'm thinking tomorrow…"

"No, no. We've got a Potions essay due on the third. We'll be working on that then." Caitlin said.

"Friday?" Barry suggested. "Wait - no - the fifth?"

"Friday would probably be better," Caitlin agreed. "That way, it won't matter as much if we stay up late, because-"

"Yeah, yeah. We don't have classes on weekends. Okay, I'll write it."

He took out a pen and ripped a blank page out of his notebook. "Okay… Dear Kara… would Friday… work for you…? You could meet us… outside the gates… and we could bring you… inside…"

"You don't need to say it out loud," Caitlin commented amusedly as he continued to write, albeit silently.

"Oh, shut it," Barry said without heat as he pushed the paper and pen towards her. "Add some more, if you want."

She nodded and he reluctantly turned back to his breakfast, scowling at the half-eaten sausage on his plate.

* * *

**Classified Location**

**November 1st, 2008**

"Director Fury," greeted a man with a bow strapped to his back.

"Report," ordered Fury, a no-nonsense-looking black man with an eyepatch.

The other man hesitated briefly. "The new inhabitant seems to have… tamed… the Winter Soldier."

Fury's eyebrows rose. "How in God's name did she do that?"

"The Soldier attacked her in the middle of the street, and she crushed his metal arm with her bare hands before _flying_ up into the air, taking him along for the ride. By the time they got back, he looked more or less harmless."

Fury sat down heavily. "As much as this news is comforting, it is also troubling, in a way."

"Sir?"

"Keep an eye on the unknown, Agent Barton. Look for weaknesses. We need to find a way to take her out if she becomes a threat."

She's too powerful to be left unsupervised, was the unspoken message.

* * *

**Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow**

**November 4th, 2008**

Bucky looked upon the scene before him with something akin to contentedness.

The familial feeling that came with the sight of Kara playing with little Kal was the best thing he'd ever felt in so long. His memories of the past seventy or so years were of blood and violence, just one assignment to the next, but here, he could be happy again.

Sure, there was a gaping hole in his heart where Steve should be (he really missed his best friend), but he felt that he could move on.

With a sliver of a smile, he gathered his confidence and moved closer to Kara. "Can I hold him?"

She smiled at him. "Sure, just be careful. He can be a bit of a handful."

He laughed softly and accepted Kal into his arms. "Hey, little guy," he said.

Kal scrunched up his nose and poked his tongue out of his mouth slightly. Kara laughed.

Bucky smiled at the toddler. "What does that face mean?" he asked Kara.

She looked thoughtful. "I'm not sure… I haven't cataloged all of his expressions yet, but I think that one is hungry… maybe."

Bucky frowned slightly. "Hey… I'm not sure if this sounds offensive, but do Kryptonian babies need different kinds of food?"

"No, you're fine," Kara said. "And to answer your question, no. Kryptonians can eat human foods just fine."

"Huh," Bucky said, sounding impressed. "For some reason, I didn't expect that."

"Do you want to feed him?" Kara asked slyly.

Bucky paled. "Oh, no. I have no experience with anything like that. Please, you do it. I'd mess it up for sure."

Kara laughed. "Don't worry, I'll help you."

Bucky turned even more white when she left and came back with the food.

"Here's the food," she said, placing a small bowl next to him, "and here's the spoon."

She handed him the spoon, causing him to shift Kal to one arm.

Bucky carefully scooped up some food and moved it towards Kal's mouth, but hit a roadblock when he melted the front of the spoon with his heat vision.

Bucky's mouth dropped open. "What…"

Kara swore. "Here, hand him to me and go wash your hands. Don't want that seeping into your skin."

"Fuck," Bucky hissed as a melted blob of plastic fell onto his leg. He quickly passed the crazy baby off to Kara and darted towards the nearest sink.

Kara leveled Kal with a glare as Bucky frantically scrubbed at the burning plastic with a soaked paper towel. "You meant to do that, didn't you?" she accused, immediately feeling rather silly once she realized that she'd just accused a baby of hurting her friend intentionally. She shook her head. "I'm crazy."

Kal giggled.

_Crazy baby._

"Hey, Bucky! Toss me another spoon!"

Bucky, who had just finished getting off the last remnants of melted plastic, shrugged and turned back to get a spoon.

Moments later, Kara snatched the spoon that was sailing towards her right out of the air.

She looked a giggly Kal right in the eye. "I'll feed you if it's the last thing I do!" she exclaimed dramatically, drawing a surprised laugh from Bucky, who had sat back down next to her, and another giggle or two from Kal.

When Hedwig flew into the kitchen, both Bucky and Kara were covered in little bits of food.

"Can you snatch that, Buck?" she asked absentmindedly as she cleaned her cousin.

Thrown by the nickname, he could only nod before untying the letter and feeding Hedwig, who gave a pleased hoot.

"What's it say?" asked Kara.

"They can meet on Friday, and it says… meet at the site of the crash. Do you know what that means?"

"Yeah. I can fly us there no problem. It might just take a few minutes… you said you had no feeling in that arm, right?"

"Yes."

"Good, otherwise we'd have to find another way to go."

Kal gurgled unhappily before burning the letter with his eyes.

"Damn," Bucky muttered. "How have I not been fried yet?"

Kara smiled. "He likes you for whatever reason. Once you stopped seeming threatening, he warmed up to you."

Bucky could only reply with a startled grunt of acknowledgment.

* * *

**Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**November 1st, 2008**

Albus Dumbledore was quite perplexed.

Funnily enough, he'd been perplexed quite a bit recently, which was unusual for the aged headmaster.

Initially, when Harry had disappeared, he had panicked, fearing what could have caused Harry to take down the wards at the Dursleys'. However, he was appeased a few days later when his monitoring charms on the old Potter Cottage went off, notifying him that someone had taken up residence. It didn't take long for him to determine that that person was Harry. What was confusing, however, was that it appeared that Miss Granger was there too. Worried, he had apparated to the Granger home, intent on asking what had caused this development but was told quite firmly to leave.

But that wasn't what had thrown him the most, it was the young man, woman, and baby that were now residing there when Harry was at Hogwarts. He was unaware of anyone matching their description that Harry knew. Then again, there were likely many things he didn't know about Harry.

For instance, he was overjoyed when he discovered that the dark magic that was previously surrounding Harry's scar was gone. He'd presumed that it was a Horcrux, but he couldn't be sure, and given that it was gone, he had to assume that it was not a Horcrux.

Another surprising thing that happened recently, not related to Harry, was the emergence of the so-called Flash, Frost, and Reverse-Flash.

That development was so incredibly sudden that he'd been reeling from it for days.

Shaking his head to bat away his thoughts, he turned back to the important forms on his desk.

_Oh, dear. What are they thinking? Hungarian Horntail? I must make sure that Poppy is properly prepared. At least Harry didn't get roped into this, just that "Flash."_

* * *

**Gryffindor Common Room, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**November 6th, 2008**

Barry looked down at his transfiguration essay, yet he didn't see a word of it.

Something was _off_ , he could tell. His memories of magic had been clearer recently, and as far as he could tell, memories of his time as the Flash were fading, falling into the background. That somehow didn't make him any slower or less adept at using his speed, however. It was strange.

He looked up to ask Caitlin if she'd felt the same recently, but something strange happened.

"Hermione, have you-" he started before freezing.

"Yes, Harry?" she replied absently, before similarly freezing.

It wasn't shock that froze them… well, actually, it was, but mostly, it was the process initiated by the ring and necklace finally finishing, after months and months, triggered by the subconscious uses of their true names.

As things fell into place in their heads, an immense feeling of guilt bombarded their senses.

"What have they… we… done?" Hermione asked hoarsely as she stood shakily and stumbled towards Harry.

"This… this is horrible!" Harry exclaimed. "They - er - we had _no right!_ I feel so different!"

"Somewhere private, now," Hermione said urgently. "We need to discuss this, _badly_."

Exchanging an uneasy glance, the couple stumbled up to the boys' dorm, Hermione locking the door behind them with a neat _Colloportus_ and silenced the room.

They sat down heavily on Harry's bed.

"From what I know of his life, this was very unlike Barry Allen, to do something like this," Hermione said sadly.

"Caitlin too," Harry pointed out.

"We are them, now," Hermione whispered, sounding horrified. "I can't believe I agreed to put on that damned necklace."

Harry rubbed her back soothingly. "I think I know why."

She looked up at him. "I know too."

He nodded. "They were grief-stricken up until the end, no matter how much they deluded themselves otherwise. No… this isn't something Barry Allen and Caitlin Snow would have done before the deaths of their loved ones. The Reverse-Flash broke them. We're their second chance." He looked Hermione in the eyes. "Do you think we can redeem them?"

"We _are_ them," Hermione said. "I remember her whole life. Everything. Every touch, every taste, every feeling. She really loved you, Harry… or at least the part of you that's Barry. But… I'm still working on forgiving them… forgiving us over what they've put us through these past few months, though it hasn't been _all_ bad."

Harry's eyebrows rose. "Really?"

Hermione giggled. "Well, for one, I really like living with you, I've discovered. Secondly, I still feel different, but thinking about the conversation we've just had, I can tell that some of these differences are probably for the better. Just, for example, we're both noticeably more mature. I also still feel like I can use my speed and cold to the same extent and with the same skill. Plus, that time we spent practicing wandless magic will certainly be an improvement."

Harry nodded, agreeing with all of her points. "So, it turned out for the best, but it wasn't the best idea," he summarized.

"That's a bit of an understatement."

"Which part?"

"Both."

"So," Harry started nervously.

"What?" asked Hermione, sounding remarkably deadpan.

"Are we going to talk about… this…?" he said, vaguely gesturing between the two of them.

Hermione nodded. "Remember what I said before I put on the necklace?"

Harry nodded, hope filling him and threatening to overflow.

"Well," she said, enjoying his eager expression immensely, "I meant every word. All three of them."

Harry let out a _massive_ sigh of relief, before engulfing her in a huge hug. "I love you too. I know this sounds a bit strange coming from a fourteen-year-old… but I really mean it. I'm not even sure when I began feeling this way, only that I'm sure that I do."

Hermione pulled away, tears forming in her eyes. "We're going to be so happy, _so happy_. There's nothing we can't do now. Voldemort won't stand a chance when we can run almost faster than he can see."

Harry smiled and kissed her for the first time as someone who was truly almost entirely Harry. As she responded, he put his arms around her waist as she snuck hers around his neck, pulling him closer.

"I love you, I love you, I love you!" she said as they stopped to breathe.

Harry opened his mouth to reply in kind but was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door.

"Bloody hell, mate," came Ron's exasperated voice, muffled by the door. "That was one hell of a silencing charm. We had to get the Head Boy to dispel it, but he's gone now. Just open the door, will you? We just wanna sleep."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other in surprise. Had it really been that long?

They separated quickly, blushing, and Harry moved to the door as Hermione wandlessly disillusioned herself, a nifty trick she'd picked up recently.

He shot out a silent _Alohamora_ , opening the door to show four tired-looking fourth-year Gryffindors.

"What were you doing in there?" Dean asked tiredly. "We've been out here for five minutes."

Harry blanched. "Sorry guys."

Neville, Seamus, and Dean shrugged walking past him and started changing. Ron remained silent, looking closely at Harry.

"Something's different," he said finally. "What happened?"

Harry let out a breath. "Let's go back to the common room. As long as we keep our voices down, we most likely won't be overheard."

Ron frowned. "Alright."

As they sat down, Harry weaved a silencing spell around them and dropped his head into his hand. "They weren't exactly… all there… by the end."

Ron frowned. "Who?"

"Barry. Barry and Caitlin. I think part of the problem was that they'd been consumed by grief, and it warped them a bit, but really the problem was that neither was willing to let the other be erased, and neither was willing to leave the other either. So there came the ridiculously horrible idea of sending memories and speed onto the next universe." Harry shook his head as Ron's mouth dropped open. "It was a truly horrible thing to do. It was more or less possession."

Ron looked baffled for a second. "Aren't _you_ Barry?"

Harry shrugged. "Technically, I guess, but I'm mostly Harry again."

Ron rubbed his eyes. "How the hell did that happen?"

Harry shrugged again. "Another point against Barry and Caitlin. I'm not sure they exactly knew what they were doing when they designed the things. Cisco _was_ , in fact, the engineer, not Caitlin, not Barry. Sure they worked fine, but my working theory is that the brain took the time to organize the memories, and while it did that, they were at the forefront of the mind. Now, they're there. They're almost… faded. Like, sure, I remember everything, but I don't feel the emotions attached to them anymore."

"You still talk like him," Ron pointed out.

"Some things have lingered," Harry said.

"Like what?" he asked warily.

"Well, I'm _certainly_ still dating Hermione. We originally liked each other without the speedster duo as the catalyst. Also, we're now abnormally mature, and we still know how to control our powers."

Ron nearly passed out in relief. "Oh, thank Merlin, you're Harry again!"

Harry looked puzzled. "What was wrong with me… er… modified me? Well, aside from the whole neo-possession thing."

Ron shifted uncomfortably. "Everyone was always a bit nervous around you, I'm not sure if you'd noticed. It was because we were a bit wary around the two sort-of-strangers-but-not-quite who'd entered our midst, and frankly, we came to the same conclusions you'd come to about Barry and Caitlin, only earlier."

Harry let out a breath. "I understand. I'm only disappointed that I was too thick to notice your discomfort. Sure, I wouldn't have reacted well, I'm sure, but it also means I'm losing my edge."

Ron 'hmmed' as he surveyed the common room. "Why hasn't anyone heard us?"

"Silencing ward," Harry said smugly.

"How'd you manage that? I never saw a wand."

Harry smirked. "We can still do wandless magic. That's another useful thing that's lingered."

Ron frowned. "Are you… happy… that this happened?"

"No," Harry answered instantly. "We've been violated in one of the most fundamental ways. Sure, some of the effects may be useful, but I don't like that this happened. I especially hate that it happened to Hermione… and I'm particularly unsettled by something else I remember…"

He trailed off. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to mention that something from _his_ (Harry's) subconscious wanted Hermione to be the one to use the necklace. He couldn't believe he'd done that. _Maybe I was influenced by Barry?_

"What?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Either way, I've got a bit of a dilemma here; what the bloody hell am I supposed to tell Kara?"

Ron rubbed his eyes. "Mate… I've still got no clue who that is."

Harry looked sheepish. "Ah… sorry about that. She's a… friend from the old… place. I don't think she's quite as guilty as Caitlin and Barry had been - she's far too nice and fundamentally good to go along with something like that. The fact that she did makes me think that she hadn't quite figured the implications. The strangest thing happened though, Kara's doppelgänger crashed on Hogwarts grounds back on the first of September… It's strange, I'd have thought that she wouldn't exist here… maybe I should talk to Luna… Anyway, we gave that Kara the bracelet, which probably didn't actually change her much, just gave her more memories. I'm not sure, but I think that it was _probably_ fine to give her that, considering that the person who gained her memories was _literally_ her."

Ron frowned. "She was still a person."

Harry looked disgusted with himself. " _What_ is wrong with me?"

Ron shrugged.

"Alright… everything that Barry and Caitlin did was disgusting, I get that, but I just _can't_ picture Kara as being guilty of this. I guess I'll find out when I see her tomorrow."

Ron nodded, looking a bit happier since he'd cleared those terrible ideas from the head of his best mate.

* * *

**Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow**

**November 7th, 2008**

Kara's hands shook as the letter fluttered to the ground. A few tears streaked down her cheeks and she stood abruptly from the table, startling Bucky and making the chair she'd been sitting in rocket a few feet back before slamming into the wall loudly.

"What have I done?" she whispered, sounding broken.

Bucky looked at her, a mixture of alarm and worry spread across his face before snatching the letter, where his face turned more ashen the longer he read.

"Shit," he breathed, now perfectly understanding her reaction.

"We're going to Hogwarts, _now_ ," she said firmly despite her tears as she marched towards Kal's room to wake him up.

Bucky looked out the window. _At least it's dark_ , he mused, observing the stars.

* * *

**Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**November 7th, 2008**

Harry was looking out the window, which was an activity that seemed to be occupying more and more of his time lately.

However, he wasn't simply looking out the window for so reason, he was waiting. He was waiting to see something specific, _someone_ specific. He was waiting to see Kara Danvers fly in with her new friend and her baby cousin.

He was watching mainly because he knew she'd arrive early, considering what he'd said in the letter, and he didn't want to make her wait for him any longer than necessary.

Suddenly, a large cloud of visibly frigid air rose up into the air right beyond the gates.

_If that's not a signal, I don't bloody know what one is._

Without a second thought, he grabbed a sleeping Ron from his bed and flashed down to the common room where Hermione was already waiting for them.

"You saw it too?" he asked with a raised eyebrow as he put Ron down.

She nodded solemnly. "This is going to be a difficult conversation, you know," she said.

Harry sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Yeah… I know."

At that moment, Ron sat up. "Bloody hell. How did I get here?"

Harry smirked down at him. "Ready to meet our alien friend?"

Ron sputtered for a second. "Alien? You never mentioned that!"

Harry smiled and took off in a streak of yellow.

Hermione huffed. "I guess I'm left to carry Ron," she groused playfully, casting half-hearted glares at the portrait Harry had just phased through.

"Not too fast," mumbled Ron, "Don't wanna puke."

"You remind me far too much of John right now," she muttered under her breath.

 _John?_ Ron mouthed before finding himself suddenly on his hands and knees puking outside Hogwarts grounds.

"I'd like an _explanation_ ," growled Kara, standing next to a man none of them recognized, who was holding the baby.

Harry sighed. "We'll get to that. Mind introducing your friend first?"

Kara huffed, squaring her shoulders. "This is James Barnes… just call him Bucky. He's a super-soldier like Captain America, only he'd been brainwashed by HYDRA for the past seventy or so years. Don't worry, he's perfectly docile now."

Harry laughed, dispelling the tense mood.

Hermione turned her concerned gaze to Bucky's metal arm. "What happened to your arm?"

Kara blushed. "That… might be my fault. He was still brainwashed when we met and had tried to kill me, so I crushed his metal arm before he snapped out of it."

Bucky looked like he wanted to say something, but was cut off by Kara's glare.

 _Please don't tell them about the ocean…_ she thought desperately.

"You're holding something back," Harry said blandly.

She leveled her glare on him, her eyes visibly heating up. "Don't you _DARE_ talk about holding something back, _Allen!_ "

Harry looked stricken. "I… I'm not Barry, please don't call me that… I'm actually quite disgusted by what he did."

Kara deflated. "Sorry… but how aren't you Barry anymore? You were just a few days ago, and you're still fast…"

Harry shrugged. "The best explanation I can come up with is that they messed up a bit with the design, and instead of Barry and Caitlin being permanently dominant, their memories got pushed to the back and stripped of emotion."

She frowned. "Will that happen to me too?"

"We don't know," Hermione said. "Maybe - it happened to us. However, you've taken over the body of your doppelgänger. That could be game-changing. So, really, time will tell."

Kara nodded. "I hope it does happen. I stole her life…"

Harry _desperately_ wished he could contradict her, but he couldn't. He could, however, tell the truth. "Kara, the fact that you're this distraught and disgusted by it is a good thing. It shows me that you didn't realize the implications of what you'd helped to do until we owled you."

Her expression didn't change. "I _fangirled_ over you having a new body."

Bucky winced from behind her.

Harry looked undaunted but shut his mouth as Hermione stepped forward. "Sure, you've done a bad thing, but you can make it better. You can make up for it."

Kara brightened. "Anything."

Hermione smiled. "Raise your cousin, help keep the world safe, and be happy."

Kara frowned. "But-"

"It's definitely enough," Hermione said, cutting her off and refuting her argument before she even voiced it. "The first is your duty. It's what the Kara of this earth was tasked with, and it's what you were tasked with as well. The second is something that we should always do. People with powers like us should help save the innocents - you've always been a part of that crusade, Kara. Third, the Kara from this world, if she was anything like you, she would've wanted you to be happy. You had a momentary lapse in judgment, one that was influenced by your trust in your friends. She would've understood, and she would've wanted you to be happy."

Both Ron and Bucky stared at Hermione, mouths agape. Kara looked at her thoughtfully, and Harry looked proud.

"I'm Hermione Granger," Hermione said, sticking her hand out to Kara. "It's nice to meet you."

Kara smiled brilliantly. "It's nice to meet you too. My name is Kara Danvers."

She grasped Hermione's proffered hand and shook it, careful not to hurt the young witch.

"Harry Potter," Harry said as he stepped forward and held out his hand.

Kara let go of Hermione's hand and shook Harry's.

"And that's Ron Weasley," Hermione said with an air of absentmindedness while gesturing vaguely in Ron's direction without bothering to look.

All assembled (apart from Hermione, Ron, and little Kal) had to muffle their laughter. Ron managed to piece together an affronted look as he shook Kara's hand.

"Don't listen to her," Ron told Kara. "She's a big softy once you get to know her."

Hermione looked torn between taking offense and laughing until her heart stopped. "I'll have you know," she huffed, "I'm perfectly friendly."

Harry gave her a deadpan look. "Quite."

Bucky coughed quietly, drawing everyone's attention. "I know I've already been introduced by the pretty girl over there, but I'm Bucky Barnes, and it's nice to meet you all. I admit I was a bit skeptical coming over here when I read your letter, Harry, but you guys seem pretty nice. I… sorry. Could you fix my arm? It's a bit… crushed."

Harry's eyes snapped to his arm. "Sorry," Hermione said. "I think we all got a bit distracted by the drama. Hold your arms out, please."

Bucky quickly handed the abnormally silent Kal to Kara and stuck his arms forward. Ron whistled appreciatively, getting his first good glance at it. "Bloody hell… she sure did a number on that arm."

"Shut it, Ron," Hermione said, pulling out her wand.

She made a few complicated motions and muttered a short string of Latin and the arm began to reshape itself, basing the shape on the other arm.

Once it was complete, she tapped it again, saying " _Duro_."

"There. That's better. It should be more durable than before, now."

"Much better, thank you," Bucky said.

Harry turned his gaze towards Kara. "You said you had a few questions?" he asked.

Kara nodded. "Yeah… whenever I've gotten particularly angry… or happy, really, weird stuff has happened. It seems to be that way with Kal, too. For example, one time Kal was crying and one of your chairs at the table broke in half. I just went out and bought a new one a few days ago, actually."

Harry narrowed his eyes and noticed small connections to magic in their chests, and it looked like they were continually getting bigger.

"You're magic," he said decisively.

Everyone turned their eyes to him. "You do you know that?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

Harry looked at her strangely. "You don't see it?"

"See what?"

"She's got a small connection to magic there. Same with Kal."

Hermione sputtered and Ron gaped at him while Kara and Bucky looked at each other, confused. "Harry… nobody else can see that. You've got Mage Sight."

"What? You mean that I have something special that lets me see it?"

"Yes," Ron said. "It's supposed to be really rare. I've only heard of two wizards that have it. According to Dad, Dumbledore and Voldemort are the only ones. I think he also mentioned something about Moody and his magical eye though…"

Harry frowned. "I thought everyone could see that… at least everyone magical. I've haven't ever _not_ seen it this way."

Hermione's mouth dropped open even further. " _Natural-born_ Mage Sight! Oh my God!"

Harry just looked even more confused. "What…?"

"Usually wizards don't manifest special abilities until their magical maturity, and even then, they usually don't notice them until they show themselves! You've had Mage Sight all your life! That never happens!"

Kara interrupted Hermione's little academic freakout. "Umm, sorry, but I'm a bit nervous about breaking stuff in your house. How can I control this?"

Hermione bit her lip. "Harry, can you conjure two mirrors? Just… put a bit of extra power in it."

Not bothering to take out his wand, Harry nodded and two identical pocket-sized mirrors materialized on his hands with a soft _pop_.

"Here you go," he said as he handed them to Hermione, ignoring Ron's gobsmacked look.

She smiled pleasantly at the shocked Ron and cast a complicated charm on it. "These are two-way mirrors," she said to Kara. "I just finished figuring out how to make them yesterday before I became… well… me, again."

Ron looked even more shocked. "How did you…"

Hermione blushed. "I've been intrigued with these since I first heard of them. I've been researching how to make them since just after the World Cup."

" _That's_ what you've been researching!" Harry said, sounding relieved. "I tried to watch what you were doing once but I had no clue. How does it work?"

Hermione pinked some more. "It's a modified version of the Protean Charm. Rather than making things reflect the changes of other objects, it links them together."

"But that's after NEWT-level!" Ron protested feebly.

"Come on, Ron. When has that ever stopped her?" Harry said, amused. "Think Polyjuice."

Hermione laughed as she handed one of the mirrors to Bucky. "Anyway, these mirrors are linked. We'll be able to speak to each other through this, sort of how video calls work. Tap your finger to the front and say either mine or Harry's name, our mirror will chime, indicating that you want to talk. If you want to accept the call, do the same. Just… when you're calling, do it before nine in the morning and after five in the afternoon. We have classes in between those times. Or, if you're in trouble, just call whenever. We'll be giving you lessons through these. Since you two are currently living off of Harry's Gringotts account, I'm fairly certain you don't have jobs, so keep this on you at all times."

Bucky pocketed the mirror, shooting Hermione a grateful look.

Kara smiled. "Can we have a tour of the grounds?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "Sure. You'll carry Bucky again? I can grab Ron."

Kara nodded. "Sure."

"Wait a moment," Ron protested, shaking his head. "I don't wa-"

He was cut off when he arrived inside the gates via a flash of yellow.

He immediately turned away from Harry and retched.

Kara landed a few feet away, and Hermione quickly followed in a flash of blue.

"Let the tour begin!" Harry exclaimed dramatically, patting his puking friend comfortingly on the back.

 _Just like John_ , he thought amusedly.

* * *

_Guilt makes you human. If you didn't feel guilty, well, that would be a different story…_


	9. Run, Harry, Run

**Previously on** _**After the New Dawn** _ **:**

" _What have they… we… done?" Hermione asked hoarsely as she stood shakily and stumbled towards Harry._

" _This… this is horrible!" Harry exclaimed. "They - er - we had_ _ **no right!**_ _I feel so different!"_

" _Let the tour begin!" Harry exclaimed dramatically, patting his puking friend comfortingly on the back._

_**Just like John** _ _, he thought amusedly._

* * *

**Chapter 9 - Run, Harry, Run**

**Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, After the New Dawn**

**November 24th, 2008**

Harry was nervous.

This by itself wasn't all that unusual - he was nervous all the time for a variety of reasons.

What _was_ unusual about _this_ particular occurrence was what was causing the nervousness.

Today was the day of the first task.

Harry was sitting next to Hermione at the Gryffindor table, picking at his food. He didn't feel all that hungry.

"Harry!" Hermione scolded. "Eat food, you idiot."

Harry scowled at her while Ron was visibly trying not to laugh. The problem with that was that Ron had quite a bit of food in his mouth, and the combination of that and the repressed laughter was something that looked remarkably like choking.

As if they appeared out of nowhere, Fred and George were suddenly right behind Ron. Harry flinched and dropped his fork, causing it to clatter noisily as it fell to his plate.

"Ronnie, old chap," Fred said.

"Are you all right there?" George asked.

"We could…" Fred trailed off, only for George to pick up where he left off, almost seamlessly.

"Thump you on the back…"

"Turn you upside down," Fred offered.

"No, no," George countered, looking thoughtful.

"Right. Can't have that," Fred agreed.

"Whatever shall we do?" the two cried together, sounding rather dramatic.

They exchanged a concerned glance when Ron just started shaking more.

Fred turned to Hermione. "Is he actually choking?"

She shot Fred an amused look. "No… he's laughing."

George snorted. "Ah. Our beautiful brother-"

"Adorable ickle Ronniekins!" Fred interjected.

"-is choking on his own giggles. How horrific!"

"Terrible!" Fred agreed.

"Well, brother mine," George started.

"Yes," Fred replied. "Let's leave this miserable sod to his sad, _sad_ amusement."

With that, the two bewildering sixth-year pranksters linked arms and _skipped_ away.

Harry turned his gaze to Ron. "Actually, though, Ron. Are you okay?"

Ron swallowed noisily, causing Hermione to grimace. "Yeah… sorry. I was laughing, and I couldn't really swallow while I was laughing."

Harry nodded amiably. "Happens to the best of us," he said wisely.

Hermione snorted, spearing a small portion of her pancake with her fork.

Harry frowned. "I can't believe today's the first task… I wonder what it is? They said something about bravery…"

"Remember," Hermione said, "It's traditionally been some sort of magical creature - last time they held it, it was a Chimaera, and they had to get past it, grab a flag, and get back to the starting line."

"That's reassuring," Harry muttered.

"Maybe they'll do something different now that there's a fourth champion in it?" Ron suggested hopefully.

Hermione shook her head. "Nope. They planned the tasks before he was entered."

"If they were actually considering that," Harry added, "it would be worse, not better. Flash has super-speed."

"Talking about planned tasks you were _supposed_ to attend," Ron said, "the Daily Prophet is still on about how you didn't go to the Wand Weighing."

Harry sighed. "Really, Ron, I don't care all that much. I wasn't going to take my wand to them - they'd figure out who I was right away - and you're lucky I put up a silencing ward, otherwise, half the school would know I'm the Flash already."

Hermione checked her watch, decidedly ignoring the argument going on in front of her. She and Harry had decided together that he wasn't going to the Wand Weighing - he probably wouldn't even end up using his wand anyway. "Eat, Harry. You've got to be down there in just over an hour."

* * *

**Classified Location**

**17 Days Ago - November 7th, 2008**

Jasper Sitwell looked anxiously at Alexander Pierce as he watched the recording.

"You're telling me that…" Pierce started. He cradled his head in his hands. "…this ridiculously powerful woman just reversed the brainwashing we did on the asset?"

Sitwell gulped. "Yes sir… I'm having a hard time believing it myself."

"Can we get him back?"

Sitwell winced. "Well… um… he hardly ever leaves the house, and when he does, the woman is with him. I think he knows we'd want him back."

"This is a _disaster_ ," Pierce muttered.

* * *

**Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow**

**November 24th, 2008**

Kara was packing a nice lunch.

"Ready to go soon?" Bucky called from the other room, where he was putting on a pitch-black hoodie.

"Yeah," Kara called back. "How about Kal? Is he ready?"

Bucky walked into the kitchen with Kal in his arms. "Yep. He might've protested a bit at me changing him, but we're all set now. I forgot to ask - does Harry know we're coming?"

Kara smirked. "Nope, but don't worry. I'll make sure we stay out of sight. He taught me a spell recently, it's called disillusionment. It can make a person more or less invisible."

Bucky whistled, sounding impressed. "Wow. That's pretty useful. If you don't mind, could you cast that on me whenever we leave the Cottage?"

Kara shrugged. "Sure, it'll be good practice."

Kal yawned before shooting a burst of heat-vision at the ceiling. Kara sighed before muttering a _reparo_ , causing everything to fix itself. It looked better than it had been before Kal burned it.

Bucky smiled. "Another spell?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "I've been getting a lot of use out of that one… actually, how have you _not_ noticed me doing that one? Kal breaks stuff all the time?"

Bucky shrugged. "Yeah, I saw it, I just never bothered asking until now."

Kara laughed. "You're weird, Bucky Barnes."

He smirked. "You're _weirder_ , Kara Danvers."

She raised an eyebrow.

He raised both.

Kal clapped and giggled while blowing out a gust of cold from his mouth, coating half of the table with ice.

Bucky let out a startled laugh while Kara yelped, pulling her half-made lunch away from the ice.

"Know how to fix that?" Bucky drawled.

Kara took one look at the smug-looking baby and the amused visage of Bucky and shook her head despairingly. "Nope, they haven't taught me that one yet."

"Mirror call them," Bucky suggested.

"No, no. It's after nine!" Kara exclaimed.

"It's the day of the first task," he countered.

"Ugh, fine," she said as she pulled the mirror out. "Hermione Granger."

The mirror blurred and then Hermione appeared. She was walking, her hair appeared to be windswept, and she was wearing a light jacket.

" _Yes, Kara? Why are you calling_ _ **now**_ _?_ "

"Know any spells to get rid of excessive ice?"

Hermione 'hmmed.'

" _Try an overpowered_ _ **Lumos Solem**_ _to melt it and then vanish it with an_ _ **Evanesco**_ _. I've taught you those two, right?_ "

"Yes," Kara said, nodding.

" _I want the story later,_ " Hermione said.

Kara nodded. "Sure. Bye, Hermione, sorry for bothering you."

" _You haven't bothered me - I'm walking to the stadium now, so I'm mostly alone. Just remember, I was only able to answer you just now because it isn't a school day_."

"Got it."

The call cut off and the mirror returned to being reflective.

" _Lumos Solem_."

The ice began melting at a rapid pace, and the resulting water spilled on the floor.

" _Evanesco_."

All the water vanished.

Bucky whistled. "Impressive."

Kara smiled at him. "That combo was all Hermione. I'm sure I could have thought of it, given enough time, but she's more adapted to the concept of having magic. It's only been around two and a half weeks for me."

"Think about what Kal will be able to do when he grows up," Bucky pointed out. "He'll be a Kryptonian - with all of the benefits that come with that - and he'll have grown up with magic. You're already ridiculously powerful. He'll only be more so."

She nodded, looking slightly dazed. "Yeah… wow. He really will be powerful, won't he?"

Bucky glanced at the clock. "Ah… Kara? We should've left a minute ago. We're going to be late."

"Oh, oops. Hand me Kal."

* * *

**Forbidden Forest Arena, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**November 24th, 2008**

Just outside the clearing, three disillusioned figures landed. Two were adults, and one was a baby.

"Well," one adult said wryly, "Harry's certainly going to have his hands full."

The other adult simply stared disbelievingly. "They're making them face _dragons?_ What type of competition is this?"

* * *

**Unspecified Hallway, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**November 24th, 2008**

Harry made his way to the nearest restroom, glancing over his shoulder to check for people following him. It was ten minutes before the task was scheduled to start, and he wanted to get there just a bit early.

He slipped into the restroom and entered a stall before flashing into his suit and speeding out of the castle in the direction of the tent. As he ran, a time remnant branched off to go back to Hermione and watch the task as Harry Potter.

Harry skidded to a stop inside the tent, startling Ludo Bagman, who was standing there with a small purple sack in his hands.

Standing in various places inside the tent, the other three champions looked decidedly nervous.

"Ah!" Bagman exclaimed. "The elusive fourth champion!"

The other three champions looked up quickly and frowned as they took in Harry's costume.

Angelina spoke up. "Flash… we all have uniforms provided by our schools. The tournament advisors supposedly prepared one for you… Why aren't you wearing it?"

Harry snorted. " **You think I'd just casually reveal my identity?"**

Ivanov's frown became a bit more pronounced than those of the others. "Are you not… Barry Allen?"

Harry shook his head. " **I was once. But, despite that, none of you know what I look like."**

"Once?" Baudin queried.

"Champions, champions," Bagman interrupted, glancing between them nervously. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag, from which you will each select a small model of the dragon you are about to face. There are different species, you see. And… I have to tell you something else too… ah, yes, your task is to collect the golden egg!"

"Dragon?" Angelina exclaimed. "The first task is dragons?"

" **Of course,"** Harry said. " **With my luck, what else could it be."**

Baudin and Ivanov looked at the two champions curiously. "You mean to say zat you did not know zat ze task was dragons?" Baudin asked.

Angelina shook her head while Flash said, " **No, of course not. Why would I know? None of us were supposed to know."**

Baudin pinked.

"Ladies first," Bagman said as he held out the bag.

Baudin reached inside with a shaking hand and pulled out a model of a Chinese Fireball dragon labeled with a small number three.

Angelina pulled out a Swedish Short-Snout and blinked owlishly at the number one tied to its neck.

Ivanov pulled out the Hungarian Horntail with a four hanging around its neck - much to his displeasure (he was swearing under his breath).

Harry reached inside and pulled out the Welsh Green, it had a number two.

"Excellent!" Bagman enthused. "Now, the numbers you see there are the order you will face the dragons in. Miss Johnson, you are first. I'm going to have to leave in a moment because I'm commentating."

A whistle blew from somewhere outside.

"Oh, good lord! I've got to run," Bagman exclaimed as he rushed out of the tent.

"Go, go," Baudin said to Angelina. "Zat is meant for you."

Angelina quickly strode out of the tent, looking particularly pale.

Seconds later, they heard the roar of the crowd as Angelina presumably did various death-defying stunts to escape the dragon.

And then they heard the voice of Ludo Bagman, sounding quite like he'd applied a _Sonorous_ : "Oooh, narrow miss there… Clever move… too bad it didn't work."

After about twelve or so minutes, the nervous group of champions heard a deafening roar that could only mean one thing: Angelina had gotten the egg.

"Very good indeed!" Bagman had exclaimed. "And now, the marks from the judges!"

They couldn't hear anything from the tent, but Harry assumed that the judges were holding them up and showing them to the crowd.

"One down, three to go!" Bagman shouted. "Flash, if you could, please?"

Harry sped out of the tent into the open in a burst of lightning and took in his surroundings as Oliver Queen had taught him to do.

There were hundreds and hundreds of faces staring down at him, all looking particularly excited. At the other end of the enclosure, there was the Welsh Green, and she was carefully crouching upon her eggs, covering them up completely.

The crowd was making a great deal of noise, but the dragon looked utterly unperturbed. It was then that Harry realized that he couldn't just run in and grab the egg.

But then, he got an idea. Maybe it wasn't the best idea, but it could be safer than many alternatives…

~ _Mighty dragon!_ ~ Harry hissed in parseltongue. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see many, many sets of eyes turning towards his time remnant in the stands, who was doing a great job of pretending to be completely flabbergasted.

The dragon simply roared at him. _Ah, damn. So much for that plan. I guess dragons don't really classify as serpents_.

With that thought in mind, Harry sped around the dragon in wide circles, looking for an obvious weakness - not that he could find one. _Maybe a lightning bolt would work?_

He ran back and forth a few times and generated enough Speed Force to reach back and grab some of his lightning, throwing it at the dragon, which hit her right in the center of the forehead. She simply roared its disapproval.

_Hmm… could I draw it away from its nest?_

He ran and created multiple speed mirages, and the dragon growled and snapped at any that got close but didn't move.

_Blimey… what are the odds I got the stubborn one?_

One out of four, a cheeky part of his brain retorted.

Rushing forward, he scrapped any semblance of a plan and proceeded to pummel the sides of her with Speed Force enhanced punches.

He was sure that Hermione was nearing a heart attack by this point, but he had to get the egg.

The dragon roared again before shifting just enough to swipe at him. Harry had to use every ounce of speed to avoid the hit, and even then, it only missed by an inch or two.

Suddenly, a bright beam of red energy - something that looked remarkably similar to Kryptonian heat vision - shot into the arena and hit the dragon in the side of the head.

The dragon roared in anger, but aside from that hadn't been affected in the slightest. Harry whipped around, peering in the direction the beam came from, but couldn't see anything.

_Wait… didn't Hermione teach Kara disillusionment?_

He looked a bit closer, and sure enough, there were three disillusioned figures watching the task; two adults and a baby.

From where he was standing, he could barely make out that one of the adults was scolding the baby.

Maybe little Kal was the one to send the beam - he couldn't picture Kara as being that irresponsible to do it herself.

That train of thought was thoroughly derailed as he had to dodge a sudden bout of fire.

_How can I provoke it?_

As he circled her, he contemplated the question.

_Maybe I can hop on her back?_

Yeah, that ought to make her angry.

Happy with his decision, he flashed forward and hopped on, causing the dragon to roar furiously and unfurl her wings, flapping them around angrily.

Small bits and pieces of commentary from Bagman made it through to his ears. "…Oh! AND HE JUMPS ON THE BACK OF THE DRAGON! What a daring move!"

The dragon twisted her head around on her long neck, and suddenly, Harry and the dragon were nose to nose.

Shit.

"It's BACKFIRED! The dragon has turned to face the Flash! Is this the end of our beloved hero?"

Harry hopped off as quickly as he could, and even then he barely escaped with his life.

But, lo and behold, the dragon had stood ever so slightly to face him, and Harry was treated with a glimpse of the egg… until the dragon plopped down again.

Crap.

Harry was sure that if she could, the dragon would look smug.

With no other options, Harry sped right in front of her head, and ran in a circle, generating energy.

The dragon opened her mouth, looking for all the world like she was about to roast him, but Harry threw a massive lightning bolt right into her gaping maw just as she began building fire up in the back of her throat.

Her mouth snapped shut with an audible snap and her eyes rolled up into the back of her head before she collapsed bonelessly and rolled off of her eggs.

Harry let out a huge breath as the egg was revealed.

 _Thank Merlin_.

He sped forward, snatched the egg, and jumped back.

That was when he noticed the silence.

Nobody made a sound, and when Harry looked up into the stands, he noticed that even his time remnant looked genuinely surprised. Ludo Bagman had dropped his wand and was staring at Harry wide-eyed, while Hermione was pale and shaking.

Sure, she was used to seeing him in dangerous situations, but the outcome of this was closer to death than usual. He sped off to the edge of the enclosure and stood next to Angelina, who had just recently gotten out of the first aid tent. They watched as a whole crew of dragon handlers nervously approached the unconscious lump of dragon lying limply on the ground. A few of them swished their wands in a recognizable pattern - the levitation charm - and lifted the dragon, whose limbs hung down towards the ground as she floated out of the enclosure. The rest of the dragon handlers had occupied their time by carefully transporting the eggs out, following the floating mass of dragon.

"Listen for your scores," Angelina whispered, leaning over toward Harry.

Madame Maxime lifted her wand, and what looked like a long silver ribbon shot out of it - until it condensed into a large, glittery eight.

Mr. Crouch was next, he shot up a number ten.

Next, Dumbledore shot up a nine and Bagman was next, up with a ten.

And last was Karkaroff, who sneered and flicked his wand disdainfully, producing a glum-looking three.

Gasps of outrage flitted through the crowd.

Harry nodded happily. Forty was a fine score.

"Flash!" came a call from somewhere behind him.

Harry turned to see Professor McGonagall approaching him hesitantly. "Would you report to the medical tent?"

Harry shook his head. " **No. I'm perfectly healthy, and if I wasn't I've got I friend who's quite qualified to heal any injuries I've not noticed. Thank you for your concern, though."**

Harry turned to Angelina. " **See you around, Johnson."**

Without waiting for a response, Harry flashed away in a crackle of electricity and a yellow streak.

Half-a-minute later, Harry had re-merged with his time remnant and safely stored his egg away in his trunk.

"Hello, Hermione," he said casually.

"Oh!" she said in surprise. "You're back already? I thought you'd still be down there."

Harry shook his head. "My place is up here, with you. Plus, I don't think anyone besides Angelina and McGonagall has noticed my absence."

Hermione looked around before letting out a laugh. "How did you manage that?"

"I'm not quite sure, actually. I thought they'd notice."

Hermione shrugged before perking up. "Wait… before I forget…" she trailed off as she pounced on him and aggressively snogged the daylights out of him.

While the couple was otherwise 'occupied,' Ron snorted, sounding fairly amused, and turned to the other Gryffindor fourth-year to the right of him. "Those two will be out of it for a while," he said casually.

Sophie Roper laughed. "Yes, I'd imagine. They do look quite distracted." She peered at him through her square, black-rimmed glasses. "You do realize there had been a betting pool on when you and she would get together, right?"

Ron managed a praiseworthy shocked look. "What? When… When did that happen? I mean… we bicker so much! Ours is a more sibling-like relationship than most siblings have!"

Sophie glanced at him speculatively. "Everyone thought that it was sexual tension."

Ron broke out into a coughing fit. " _Merlin_ , no! Please, please no. I know it's not _actually_ incest, but to me, doing something with her would feel like it. In my mind, she's just my strict older sister."

"So…" she gave him an appraising glance. "That means you're on the market?"

Ron turned red. "W-what?"

"Are you on the market?" she repeated, unperturbed as she twirled her brown hair with her right pointer finger.

"Market for _what?_ "

She gave him a deadpan look. "Are you really _that_ oblivious?"

"Um… yes?"

"It means, are you dating anyone right now?" she said, rolling her eyes.

"No, why?" he replied, looking a bit bemused.

"I'd like to apply for the vacant position," she said, smoothing down her hair, which had been blown out of position by the wind.

He looked into her light-blue eyes and said, "Sure - er - yes!"

She smiled brilliantly and shuffled over to sit on his lap, and pressed her back against his chest.

He blushed furiously. "Um… what are you doing? Isn't that a bit… fast?" When she gave him a disappointed look, he quickly backtracked. "N-not like I don't like it, but is this what you want."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm the one who sat here, aren't I?"

"Yeah… you were…" Gathering every scrap of confidence and Gryffindor courage he held, he carefully wrapped his arms around the small frame of the witch in his lap.

He knew he'd done something very right when she twisted in his arms and pecked him on the cheek.

Next to the new couple, Harry and Hermione had just finished their intense snog. "Harry?" Hermione said.

"Yeah?"

"My eyes aren't playing tricks on me… are they?"

"Wow! Um, no. I don't think so, I see that too."

"When did he meet _her?_ Surely we would have known her better if that was the case?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. He's perfectly entitled to other friends apart from us. I know for a fact that we've got two-and-a-half friends that he doesn't, and they're here actually. You saw that beam, right?

"Yeah… you're saying Kara did that?"

"No, I don't think she would do that. I think it was one of Kal's uncontrolled bursts."

"Ah, yes. I didn't think she'd be that irresponsible."

"What are you guys talking about?" Ron cut in. The two looked over at him, and then glanced at Sophie, who they noticed was there.

Harry and Hermione exchanged nervous glances. "Well, you see…" Harry started slowly as a shrill whistle sounded in the background. "Remember that red beam that hit the Flash's dragon?"

Sophie nodded. "Yeah, that was cool. Who do you think did that?"

Harry sighed in relief as Ron started discussing theories with the energetic girl.

"She's very… bubbly," Hermione commented quietly as she observed the smaller girl.

Harry cracked a smile. "Only the best for Ron, right, 'Mione?"

She smacked him on the arm. "That _would have_ been nice sentiment if you hadn't forgotten to **not call me that!** "

Harry winced. "Sorry… I just thought it was a cute abbreviation, y'know? It's a cute sort of-"

Unfortunately, nobody would find out what it was a 'cute sort of,' because he was _very_ quickly cut off by Hermione.

"No," she said. "You know how I feel about pet names. Caitlin might've been okay with it, but I don't really like any abbreviations. _Hermione_ is just fine."

"Who's Caitlin?" Sophie piped up. Apparently, she and Ron had once again begun to pay attention to their conversation.

"Ex-girlfriend," Hermione said without missing a beat.

Sophie 'hmmed.' " _Your_ ex or Harry's ex?"

Hermione sputtered, but Harry was quick to pick up the slack. "Mine," he responded quickly.

A roar from the dragon interrupted their conversation.

"Oh," said Harry. "We must have missed Baudin."

"How would you know that?" Fay Dunbar asked.

Harry shrugged. "This dragon sounds different than the last other three." It was a good enough excuse, and Fay seemed appeased. "What was her score anyway?"

"Thirty-five," Ron responded.

"How did you really know?" Hermione whispered to Harry.

"Horntail," he whispered back. "Ivanov pulled it."

"Hmm. Lucky it wasn't you," she responded.

"Yeah. This is quite unusual. I got one of the less aggressive ones. It was a bit more stubborn but wasn't really as fierce as the others."

Hermione nodded. "I noticed that… by the way, never, ever do something as stupid as you did today ever again!"

He cocked his head to the side. "Which stupid thing?"

" _Both_ ," she ground out. " _Both_ the dragon-riding and the pummeling it with your fists, you idiot."

Harry laughed.

"Are you okay?" Sophie asked.

"What?" Hermione replied.

"Your mouths were moving, but no sound was coming out."

Hermione looked at Harry, who simply grinned at her. Of course, he'd put up a silencing ward. "We're fine, Sophie. Don't worry about it," she said cautiously.

Hermione looked away from Sophie, back to Harry. "Have you been practicing the _Mind Arts_?" she asked quietly.

He nodded. "Yes. Might I ask why you're checking with me now?"

"This conversation with Sophie just reminded me that if we aren't careful, our secrets can literally be plucked from our heads. Has anyone tried to get access?"

Harry nodded. "Snape has tried a few times. I've been avoiding eye contact with him, though. I reckon my shields will be good enough to repel him soon. There's just the deepest parts of my mind to safeguard now. I've gotten all of my memories safely guarded. It's just… there's a small portion of my mind that feels sort of… evil, almost. Er… more like it feels like it _used_ to be evil. I reckon it had something to do with my scar… but now my scar's almost gone. I don't know. I was actually planning on taking a closer look at it later tonight once I've gone to bed."

Hermione nodded. "Come get me when you're about to do it. I don't want you to hurt yourself with me unable to help you."

Harry shrugged. "Sure. Can't hurt."

Hermione looked around. "You put up a silencing ward again, didn't you."

"Of course I did. What did you take me for? The biggest gossip in Gryffindor is sitting right behind us."

"Really?" Hermione looked up, and sure enough, Lavender Brown was sitting right behind them, watching intently as Ivanov's performance was judged.

"Ooh!" Hermione said, "You're in first place! Ivanov got thirty-eight, Baudin got thirty-five, and Angelina got thirty-nine!"

"Nice!" Harry enthused. He looked around, noticing that most of the students had begun filtering out of the stands. "Let's see if we can catch Kara before she's gone!"

"Yeah," Hermione agreed as she hopped off his lap.

Harry stood and swore. "I didn't realize how numb my legs were."

Hermione pulled up one of his pant legs a little. "Wow. You _are_ really pale. Sorry about that."

Harry smiled at her. "Having you sit on my lap is worth a little bit of numbness," he said sincerely, which was immediately followed by both of them blushing furiously.

"Anyway," Hermione said.

"Kara?" Harry asked.

"Kara," Hermione confirmed as she dragged Harry towards the exit, pushing past several people. "We'll see what her excuse is for this mess."

Harry raised an eyebrow as he was dragged along. "Mess?"

"Of _course_ it's a mess, Harry. What did you think, that Dumbledore would just _ignore_ a random laser beam shooting out from nowhere and hitting a dragon in the face in the middle of the _Flash's_ task?"

Harry sighed as they left the throng of students and looked for a private place to flash away from. "Yeah, that makes sense. I still reckon that it was Kal, not Kara."

Hermione let go of his hand briefly in order to hop over a fallen tree. "Why would Kal be here anyway? It's one thing to bring him at night when he can't really hurt anyone, but its midday."

Harry shook his head. "Kal-El is _Kryptonian_ , and would, therefore, be unmanageable to anyone who wasn't also a Kryptonian or equal caliber. Kara is most likely the only other Kryptonian to _exist_ in this world, and we haven't met anyone else who would handle him. Wherever she goes, he goes."

Hermione frowned. "That must be incredibly tiring."

"No kidding," Harry said before flashing away.

Hermione shook her head. "Maybe I won't be that harsh on her." Then she disappeared in a streak of blue, following the path cleared by Harry.

* * *

**Forbidden Forest, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**November 24th, 2008**

Sophie looked around quickly, looking as if she'd lost something important. "Ron," she started impatiently, "where did Harry and Hermione go?"

Ron shrugged. He'd heard a whisper or two concerning Kara and baby Kal, but he wasn't going to say that to someone he just talked to for the first time a few weeks ago. "Probably snogging."

* * *

**Hogwarts Grounds, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**November 24th, 2008**

Kara and Bucky were walking happily around the grounds, Kara having come up with the brilliant idea of levitating Kal's carrier beside them.

Not only did it make it so Kara didn't have to carry him, but it also helped her develop her magic. From what she'd seen, the more she used it (which was already fairly often) the faster it developed.

So, really, this was a great exercise.

She was enjoying herself very much, having a delightful conversation with Bucky about Harry's task, when she jumped nearly a foot in the air when she was startled by a voice behind her drawling out, "Having fun?"

Bucky wasn't quite as fazed. He knew that voice.

The dynamic duo turned to face the _other_ dynamic duo. Kara almost laughed at the thought, only holding it in because of the stern expression on the faces of her friends.

"Kara," Harry said. "Surprising seeing you here. I wonder what tipped me off… was it the bright beam of heat-vision that came blazing into the enclosure and hit the dragon?"

Kara winced. "Sorry about that. Kal was getting a bit excited about the noise… I know I should have covered his eyes with my hand, but I was pretty enthralled by the show myself… Rao, Harry, you've got a flair for the dramatics that Barry never had."

"Thanks," Harry said haltingly. "Just… be more careful. I'm not against you using your powers, or Kal using his, but when you almost revealed yourselves to one of the most powerful wizards in the world, I was a bit worried, _just_ a bit."

Kara took that to mean that he was worried out of his mind.

"Right," Harry said, brightening visibly. "Now that that unpleasantness is out of the way, I know that Hermione is dying to ask you how you're progressing with your magic."

"Oh, yes!" Hermione said, jumping into the conversation. "How long have you been levitating that?"

"She's been levitating him since we got here," Bucky replied. "She only stopped once for around a minute when he used his heat vision."

Harry whistled. "Your power is developing well."

"Yes," Hermione said. "I think you're around as powerful as a seventh-year student, if not more powerful; you're still levitating it now, after all."

"Oh!" Harry said. "That means you're probably nearing your magical maturity."

Kara frowned. "What does that mean anyway? I've heard you mention it before, but I don't know what it does."

"It's when your magic finishes developing," Hermione explained. "It's different for each person, and when it happens, additional abilities or affinities may reveal themselves. For example, Mr. Weasley gained an affinity for enchanting. I remember hearing him talk about it. That's why he went into the Ministry as the Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. Most artifacts would have come into being by enchanting. Mrs. Weasley has an affinity for potions and the like, which is why she is so good at cooking. She could very easily become a Potions Mistress. It's similar with many of our professors, although particularly powerful wizards and witches might have two, or even three, affinities or special abilities. And sometimes, abilities and affinities are passed down to their descendants."

"Oh," Kara said. "So that means I'll get an affinity or another ability once I'm magically mature?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed, nodding. "It's not all that complicated, really."

"It is quite fascinating, though," Hermione added.

"Wow," said Bucky, shaking his head disbelievingly. "You mean she'll be even more powerful than before? I didn't think she could get any more powerful."

Kara laughed.

"Of course she's getting more powerful," Harry quipped. "She's a Kryptonian _and_ a witch."

Hermione shook her head fondly. "It was great to see you guys, but we've got to get back to the castle. Stay safe! I'll call you guys later."

"Bye, guys," said Kara as they began walking away.

Harry turned to Hermione. "I bet they'll be together by Christmas."

She raised her eyebrows. "You're on, Potter."

* * *

_Though I may be small and you may be tall, you'll find I pack the greater punch…_


End file.
